Skip to main content Skip to search

Point & Click Traffic Management

Rethink traffic management with NS1’s Filter Chain

Filters are like little programs that run inline for every DNS query. They are attached directly to RFC-compliant DNS records. With NS1, a single DNS record contains all the possible answers from which the Filter Chain can select the best one. Other providers have to define proprietary DNS record “types” for one-off routing strategies which are inevitably inflexible, complex and don’t scale. Filters can be combined and re-ordered to build complex algorithms perfectly tailored to your business requirements. They can be changed in an instant. NS1 supports dozens of Filter algorithms and can even build custom Filters unique to your use case. This flexibility is only available with NS1.

NS1’s DNS Filter Chain Algorithms

Combine our powerful Filter Chain algorithms to build perfectly tailored traffic management setups matching your business logic.

Intelligent FiltersDynamic Filters
PULSAR Sort answers by Pulsar performance estimatesPRIORITY Failover according to prioritized answer tiers
SHED_LOAD Shed traffic if load is too high, based on realtime metricsSELECT_FIRST_N Return the first N answers
GEOTARGET_LATLONG Sort answers by distance to requester using latitude and longitudeSELECT_FIRST_REGION Return all answers in the same region as the first answer
GEOTARGET_REGIONAL Sort answers by distance to requester by geographical regionSHUFFLE Shuffle answers randomly
GEOTARGET_COUNTRY Sort answers by distance to requester by country, country sub-division, US state, and/or Canadian province.STICKY Make answers “sticky” by requester IP
GEOFENCE_REGIONAL Restrict to answers in same geographical region as requesterSTICKY_REGION Make regions “sticky” by requester IP
GEOFENCE_COUNTRY Restrict to answers in same country, country sub-division, US state, or Canadian province as requesterUP Remove answers that are “down”
NETFENCE_ASN Restrict to answers where Autonomous System (AS) of requester IP matches AS listWEIGHTED_SHUFFLE Shuffle answers randomly based on their weight
NETFENCE_PREFIX Restrict to answers where requester IP matches prefix listWEIGHTED_STICKY Shuffle answers uniquely per-requester with weighting