While Network Views provide logical separation, they run on shared infrastructure. For cloud providers requiring contractual, absolute data isolation (often for compliance like GDPR or regulatory mandates), separate physical or virtual Grids are the recommended and most secure architecture. This ensures no co-mingling of data, processes, or administrative access, meeting the ‘complete isolation’ requirement.

Short DHCP lease times (e.g., 1 hour) significantly increase the volume of renewal traffic. If the rate of incoming DHCP requests (new requests plus renewals) exceeds the capacity of the Grid Member’s lease queue processing, requests can be dropped, leading to intermittent failures. Checking the ‘DHCP Lease Queue’ status is the correct first step to diagnose this specific performance bottleneck related to lease duration.

While all options involve logging, enabling DNS Query Logging and forwarding via syslog is the standard, integrated method. The performance impact is managed by Infoblox, and the act of forwarding to an external SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) system offloads the storage and analysis workload from the DNS servers themselves, allowing them to focus on resolution. The RPZ logging action is for policy triggers, not all queries, and the Reporting Platform generates reports from existing data, not real-time forensic logging.

In Infoblox HA, the node with the higher ‘HA Group Priority’ number is preferred as primary. Here, gm1 (200) is preferred over gm2 (100). The ‘Preempt’ setting, when enabled, allows a higher-priority node that comes back online to automatically force a failover and reclaim the primary role. If ‘Preempt’ is disabled on gm2, it will remain secondary even after gm1 recovers, which matches the described behavior.

RPZ is only effective if client DNS queries are sent to the Infoblox servers enforcing the policy. If clients or their applications are configured to use external DNS resolvers (e.g., public DNS), those queries completely bypass the corporate Infoblox infrastructure and its RPZ policies. This is a common network design and client configuration issue that must be addressed at the network perimeter (e.g., blocking outbound DNS on port 53) or via DHCP options.

Infoblox objects have system-defined fields like `last_queried` (for DNS) or `lease_state` timestamps. The `_filter` syntax allows direct querying on these fields. Filtering `last_queried<='-90d'` at the API/ database level is the most efficient method, as it returns only the relevant records. Client-side filtering (`_max_results`) is inefficient for large datasets, and relying on custom fields like `comment` or incorrect assumptions (`disable`) is unreliable.

In a disaster scenario where the primary Grid is unreachable, you must perform a ‘Forced Activation’ on the secondary Grid. This action breaks the replication link and promotes the secondary Grid to a standalone, read-write primary Grid. It is the designed and supported procedure for disaster recovery. Simply changing a role setting or waiting for maintenance mode on the unreachable primary is not possible or correct.

The Infoblox DHCP Migration Tool is designed for this. The most seamless method is to initially configure the Infoblox server as a hot-standby failover partner to the existing Microsoft server. This allows the Infoblox server to synchronize leases and state. Once synchronized, you can perform a planned failover, making Infoblox the active primary with minimal to no service interruption, as clients maintain their existing leases through the process.

A ‘DNS Forwarding Member’ caches responses locally, drastically reducing repetitive WAN queries for the same records. A ‘DHCP Local Server’ handles all DHCP traffic (DISCOVER, REQUEST, RENEW) locally at the branch, only communicating with the Grid Master for lease updates and configuration changes. This combination is the standard design for remote offices, optimizing WAN use by minimizing constant DNS and DHCP chatter, while providing full local service if the WAN link fails.

While Network Views provide logical separation, they run on shared infrastructure. For cloud providers requiring contractual, absolute data isolation (often for compliance like GDPR or regulatory mandates), separate physical or virtual Grids are the recommended and most secure architecture. This ensures no co-mingling of data, processes, or administrative access, meeting the ‘complete isolation’ requirement.0