Single service comparison

Azure DNS organizes DNS as zones containing record sets within an Azure subscription/RBAC scope; private zones are linked to VNets. Huawei DNS separates public and private zones as distinct resource types, where private zones must be explicitly associated with one or more VPCs, and cross-region association supports DR scenarios without copying record sets. APIs differ (Azure REST vs Huawei REST/SDKs), so record-set export/import must be re-scripted.

Huawei DNS offers a built-in DNS Resolver (recursive proxy) within VPCs and conditional forwarding to on-premises servers over VPN/Direct Connect for hybrid DNS without IP-overlap concerns; Azure relies on Azure DNS Private Resolver as a separate add-on. Both support geolocation and weighted routing, but Azure pushes global routing logic into Traffic Manager or Front Door, whereas Huawei DNS provides intelligent resolution (geolocation across 200+ countries, custom lines) natively inside the DNS service itself.

Scaling and HA models differ: Azure DNS runs on Microsoft's global anycast with a 100% availability SLA for public zones; Huawei DNS uses in-house DPDK infrastructure deployed in 20+ regions with terabyte-level DDoS protection. Operational responsibility for zone delegation, SOA/NS, DNSSEC, and metering differs—Azure bills per zone and per million queries, while Huawei DNS meters zone count and query volume under its DNS tiers, so TCO and quota planning must be redone.

Start with a topology assessment of every Azure DNS zone: list record sets, TTLs, routing policies, private zone VNet links, and Azure-only features such as alias records pointing to Azure resources. Decide which record types are portable (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, CAA, PTR) and which Azure constructs (Alias records, Traffic Manager profiles, Azure Private Resolver forwarding rules) must be reimplemented using Huawei DNS intelligent resolution, private zones, or complementary services like ELB and CDN.

Migrate zone data by exporting from Azure (az cli or REST) and re-creating public and private zones in Huawei DNS via console, REST API, or SDK. Recreate routing policies as Huawei line policies (geolocation/weighted/custom lines), associate private zones with target VPCs (including cross-region links for DR), and configure DNS Resolver conditional forwarding rules where hybrid DNS to on-premises is required. There is no automated one-click tool—plan scripted, zone-by-zone cutover with low TTLs set beforehand.

Validate before cutover: run query-based tests against Huawei authoritative endpoints for resolution correctness, TTL behavior, routing policy outcomes, and private-zone VPC isolation. Verify DNSSEC if used, confirm SOA serial behavior, and test failover for weighted/DR scenarios. Cut over by updating registrar NS delegation to Huawei's NS records per zone, then monitor query latency, NXDOMAIN rates, and TTL cache effects during propagation.

Mind the gaps and cost shift: Azure Alias records, Traffic Manager nested profiles, and Azure Policy compliance controls have no one-to-one Huawei equivalent and may require ELB, CDN, or Landing Zone cross-account private-zone sharing to cover integration and governance. Quotas (zone count, record-set limits per zone, query thresholds) differ and must be requested ahead of large migrations. Recompute TCO on Huawei DNS zone and query-metering tiers, including any cross-region private-zone association and DDoS protection scope, before production switchover.