We’re pleased to announce we have added Terraform support to our list of integrations. Terraform is “a tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure” (from terraform.io website). NS1 is now a Terraform Provider, allowing DNS records to be appropriately configured for infrastructure moves/adds/changes made in Terraform.
This dovetails nicely into the NS1 platform, as it is built on a REST API. This means all management functions such as zone and record changes (creation, modification, deletion) as well as other functions such as connecting monitors and data feeds, can be performed programmatically. In fact, the NS1 portal interface that provides the management GUI is simply an AJAX front end to the underlying REST API.
This architecture is advantageous in two respects. First, it means we never release a feature or capability that is not first available via the API. There are never any “after the fact” implementations of features in the API – the API always comes first. Second, it makes it much easier for our engineers to develop other front end interfaces to the NS1 platform. Thus when customers tell us they would like to manage their DNS using the infrastructure management tools of their choice, it is not a heavy lift to create it for them. If you go to the integrations page on our website you will find a number of software integrations and SDKs we have released over the past couple of years that make it easy for customers to incorporate DNS management and service discovery with their infrastructure management tools.
Now, in concert with Terraform, the management of DNS records through NS1 is a seamless and frictionless experience that provides the confidence and resiliency required in a fast-moving infrastructure-as-code environment. Check out the NS1 entry on Terraform’s provider page for details on the NS1 functions available through Terraform: https://www.terraform.io/docs/providers/ns1/index.html