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PowerGSLB review

Free#22 of 24 in DNS Failover Services

A PowerDNS-backed failover service for teams that want self-hosted routing control.

7.1/10Editor score
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

PowerGSLB is a self-hosted DNS Global Server Load Balancing solution built as a PowerDNS Authoritative Server Remote Backend. It is designed for teams that need DNS record failover, endpoint health checks, routing policies, and client-specific DNS views while keeping the service on their own infrastructure. The project runs on Linux and is available through a web interface, with Docker packaging that bundles PowerGSLB, PowerDNS, MariaDB, and systemd. It is distributed under the MIT License.

Routing and health management are the main strengths. PowerGSLB continuously checks configured endpoints using command execution, ICMP, HTTP, TCP, or TLS, then returns live DNS records according to health status, weights, client views, and routing policy. Available policies include round-robin, weighted-random, and sticky-hash routing, while weighted priority records support active-passive failover. CIDR and GeoIP DNS views add control over which records different client groups receive.

The platform fit is clear but specific. PowerDNS Authoritative Server is a required foundation through the Remote Backend integration, and MySQL or MariaDB provides the storage layer. An HTTP JSON API covers DNS queries and administration, while the web-based administration interface offers a visual management path. Docker can simplify packaging the listed components, but the deployment remains self-hosted and requires ownership of its supporting services. PowerGSLB suits operators already working with PowerDNS who want open-source control over DNS failover and global routing. Teams seeking a standalone DNS failover service without a PowerDNS backend should consider a different option.

PowerGSLB pros and cons

  • Where it wins
    • Continuous checks support command, ICMP, HTTP, TCP, and TLS endpoints.
    • Weighted, sticky-hash, round-robin, and active-passive routing policies.
    • Web UI, JSON API, Docker packaging, and CIDR or GeoIP views.
  • Where it doesn't
    • Requires PowerDNS Authoritative Server Remote Backend integration.
    • Self-hosted deployment includes infrastructure and database components to manage.
    • Its PowerDNS focus makes it less suitable for standalone DNS environments.

PowerGSLB fact sheet, pricing and score →

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