DNS health

Catch DNS problems before they stop visitors from reaching your site.

What are DNS checks?

DNS checks look at your domain's DNS records (A, AAAA, NS, MX, TXT) on a schedule to catch changes and misconfigurations. DNS, the Domain Name System, is the phone book of the internet: it translates your domain name into the server address where your site lives. If those records are wrong or missing, visitors can't reach your site even if the site itself is running.

On the site page, the Domain routing card opens the Domain routing page, where you'll find the DNS details. That page also has the Server locations world map, with pins for where the IPs behind your domain appear to be. See server locations for more on the map.

What we check

Every DNS check looks at your domain's records and runs a set of health checks:

• Does your domain resolve? We check that your domain name points somewhere. If it doesn't, visitors will see an error.
• A and AAAA records point browsers to your site's server. A records use IPv4 addresses; AAAA records use the newer IPv6 format.
• Nameservers are the servers that manage your domain's DNS. If these are missing or misconfigured, nothing else will work.
• Mail records (MX) tell other mail servers where to deliver email for your domain. Not every site needs these, but if you send or receive email at your domain, they're essential.
• TXT records are used for verification and security policies like SPF (a setting that helps prevent email spoofing).
• Lookup time measures how long it takes to look up your domain's records, in milliseconds.

When one DNS check fails, the Domain routing card on the site page shows Failing. After two failing DNS checks in a row, DomainDash opens an incident. A DNS problem never makes the site Down by itself. If the site can't be reached, the uptime check marks it Down and the site's card on the dashboard shows Down. If the site still responds, the card shows Alert once the DNS incident opens.

Understanding your DNS data

The Domain routing page has three cards (Current records, Routing checks and Check history) plus the Server locations map:

Current records

This lists every DNS record we found for your domain, grouped by type, with a brief description of each:

Record type	What it does
A	Points your domain to a server address (e.g. 203.0.113.42)
AAAA	Points your domain to a server using the newer IPv6 address format
NS	The servers that manage your domain's DNS
MX	The mail servers that handle email for your domain
TXT	Verification and policy records for email and security

Routing checks

A pass/fail checklist showing:

• Whether your domain resolves at all
• Whether it has A or AAAA records (at least one is needed for your site to work)
• Whether nameservers are configured
• Whether mail records are present

If any of these fail, you'll see a red cross and a banner at the top of the page explaining the issue in plain English.

When something needs attention

When a DNS check is failing, the Domain routing page leads with an Insights summary explaining what's gone wrong (for example a SERVFAIL from your nameservers) and how to put it right.

Plan availability

Insights is available on Starter, Pro and Business. See the plan comparison.

Common DNS issues

When DomainDash flags a DNS problem, the DNS troubleshooting section walks you through what's happening and how to fix it. The most common ones:

• Domain not resolving — start here if you're not sure which issue you have.
• No A or AAAA records — your domain has no records pointing it to a server. The most common cause of NXDOMAIN errors.
• Nameservers unreachable — the servers responsible for your domain's DNS aren't responding (SERVFAIL). Could be a DNS provider outage or misconfigured NS records.
• DNS changes not propagating — you've updated DNS but the new records aren't showing everywhere yet.

See all DNS troubleshooting pages for the full list.

Frequently asked questions

What DNS records does DomainDash check?

DomainDash checks A and AAAA records (the IP addresses visitors use to reach your site), NS records (your nameservers), MX records (mail servers for your domain), and TXT records (verification and policy records like SPF). It also measures DNS lookup time.

How quickly does DomainDash detect DNS changes?

DNS checks run daily on the Free plan, every 12 hours on Starter, and every 6 hours on Pro and Business. DomainDash asks a public DNS resolver, the way a visitor's device would, so a recently changed record can take up to its TTL to show in DomainDash.

Why isn't DomainDash showing my new DNS records?

DNS changes take time to propagate across the internet, anywhere from minutes to 48 hours, depending on TTL values and resolver caches. DomainDash asks a public DNS resolver, the way a visitor's device would, so a recently changed or re-added record can take up to its TTL to show in DomainDash. See DNS changes not propagating for details.

Does DomainDash check DNSSEC?

DomainDash reports whether DNSSEC is enabled on your domain (as part of the registration data), but doesn't currently validate DNSSEC signatures on every check. DNSSEC issues will surface as resolution failures when validating resolvers can't get a clean answer.

What is the difference between A and AAAA records?

A records point your domain to an IPv4 address (like 203.0.113.42). AAAA records point to an IPv6 address (the newer format with a longer address space). Modern sites typically have both: visitors with IPv6 connectivity use AAAA records, and others fall back to A records. DomainDash checks both.

Related

• Domain health check for how the uptime, SSL, DNS, and registration checks fit together
• Domain registration for tracking when your domain expires
• Server locations for the world map of where your site's servers live
• Uptime checks for checking that your site is online and responding