DNS Belgium wants to eventually remove its infrastructure from AWS and migrate to a European cloud provider. The administrator of the .be, .vlaanderen and .brussels internet extensions wants to further optimise its services in this way. At the same time, the organisation wants to set an example for others to no longer be dependent on non-European service providers in geopolitically turbulent times.
For more than 25 years, DNS Belgium has ensured that .be domain names are readily and securely available. .be is one of the most secure extensions in the world and the infrastructure that ensures this is continuously evaluated.
In this context, DNS Belgium has decided that it is time to part ways with AWS for its critical services. Since 2017, the system that processes the registrations of .be domain names has been located in AWS's European data centres.
Geopolitical realities are forcing us to think more carefully about our infrastructure.
The organisation is not doing this for technical reasons, but out of concern. Philip Du Bois, general manager of DNS Belgium: ‘The geopolitical reality is forcing us to think more carefully about our infrastructure. Ten years ago, we made the decision to switch to AWS, which has certainly benefited our services. But the world has changed, and those benefits no longer outweigh the risk we run if the US suddenly imposes restrictions or tariffs on cloud usage.’
Showing that it can be done
At the same time, DNS Belgium wants to inspire other organisations in Belgium and Europe with its AWS exit. Technological dependence on, or possible access and influence by non-European players, is a growing concern among Belgian companies.
This is also evident from the most recent Beltug Priorities Compass, where sovereignty and the search for European alternatives are among the ten most important topics for Belgian CIOs and digital leaders.
‘Our dependence on non-European cloud and software providers is high, and the geopolitical situation is exacerbating this concern. The fact that an organisation such as DNS Belgium, a provider of critical infrastructure for the Belgian digital society, is taking the lead shows that it is not impossible,’ says Danielle Jacobs, CEO of Beltug and member of the board of directors at DNS Belgium.
2027
The migration away from AWS is still in its early stages. The market is currently being surveyed. The transition will begin in 2027 and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2027.
Although we are very satisfied with AWS as a technical partner, we do not want to risk finding ourselves in a situation where we have to take swift and unprepared action.
Peter Vergote, legal advisor at DNS Belgium: "Our data and processes at AWS are located on European soil, spread across multiple data centres. This is perfectly in line with European legislation such as GDPR and NIS2. We are mainly moving for (geo)political reasons. Such a migration can easily take a year. Although we are very satisfied with AWS as a technical partner, we do not want to risk finding ourselves in a situation where we have to take quick and unprepared steps.”
Without interruptions
Transparent communication and continuous improvement are two core values at DNS Belgium. That is why, at the start of this complex and lengthy project, we want to be open to all our stakeholders: registrars , ISPs, owners of a .be, .vlaanderen or .brussels domain name, the government, but also Belgian internet users who use our services on a daily basis.
It is important that the nameserver infrastructure, which has never run on AWS, is not interrupted. Domains on .be, .brussels and .vlaanderen will remain accessible throughout the entire process. We expect planned interruptions for the registration of domain names. These will be communicated to registrars in advance and will be kept to a minimum.
Philip Du Bois: ‘We provide a world-class Belgian internet service every day and we want to continue doing so for many years to come. We are confident that this challenging step will be successfully managed by our technical experts.’
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The transition will start in 2027 and is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2027.
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Everything related to registering and managing the .be, .vlaanderen and .brussels domains runs within AWS, except for the name servers. The latter are the “GPS” servers that ensure that when you type in a domain name, you are sent to the correct IP address. These are spread across the globe.
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The most crucial services run redundantly, both within AWS and in a Belgian data centre. In the event of a serious incident at AWS, zone signing, zone distribution and the database can be deployed immediately. The current contract with AWS will also remain in force until the migration is complete.
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No. We chose to move to AWS more than ten years ago because of its scalability, flexibility and cost savings. Those arguments are still valid. The decision to leave is not based on dissatisfaction with AWS, but on geopolitical risks and issues.
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That is not currently planned. We primarily want our services within Europe to run on European infrastructure with a view to digital independence, greater control and as little vendor lock-in as possible.
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We are aiming for a managed infrastructure for a virtualisation platform, storage and compute. We manage the virtual machines and applications ourselves. If this can be done securely enough, we prefer to use managed services for things like databases, central logging and metrics, in order to limit the operational burden.
We are aware that AWS, as the largest player, cannot be exactly matched, but we are confident that we do not have to compromise on security and availability with a European counterpart.