DNS Health Checks

Monitor DNS resolution by checking A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, and SOA record types.

Overview

DNS health checks monitor the DNS records for your domains to ensure they resolve correctly. DNS is the foundation of internet connectivity. If your DNS records are incorrect or your nameservers are down, users cannot reach your services regardless of whether the servers themselves are running.

upti.my DNS checks query for specific record types and compare the results against your expected values. This catches issues like accidental record deletions, unauthorized changes, misconfigured migrations, and nameserver outages.

Supported Record Types

Record Type	Description	Common Use
`A`	Maps a domain to an IPv4 address	Website and service hosting
`AAAA`	Maps a domain to an IPv6 address	IPv6-enabled services
`CNAME`	Creates an alias pointing to another domain	CDN and load balancer endpoints
`MX`	Specifies mail servers for the domain	Email delivery
`TXT`	Stores arbitrary text data	SPF, DKIM, domain verification
`NS`	Specifies authoritative nameservers	DNS delegation
`SOA`	Contains zone administration information	Zone configuration

Configuration

Parameter	Description	Default
Domain Name	The domain to query DNS records for	Required
Record Type	The DNS record type to query (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SOA)	Required
Expected Records	One or more expected record values for validation	Empty (any result passes)

💡 Multiple Expected Records

You can specify multiple expected records for record types that commonly have several values, such as MX records or multiple A records for load balancing. The check succeeds when all expected records are found in the DNS response.

Response Data

Each DNS health check execution captures the following data:

Field	Description
Domain	The domain that was queried
Record Type	The DNS record type that was queried
Record Count	Total number of records returned by the DNS server
Resolved Records	The actual DNS records returned
Expected Count	Number of expected records configured
Found Count	Number of expected records that were found in the response
DNS Errors	Any errors returned by the DNS server (NXDOMAIN, SERVFAIL, etc.)
Query Time	Time taken to complete the DNS query in milliseconds

Example Configurations

A Record Check

DNS Check - A Record

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "record_type": "A",
  "expected_records": ["93.184.216.34"],
  "timeout_seconds": 10,
  "interval_seconds": 300
}

MX Record Check

DNS Check - MX Record

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "record_type": "MX",
  "expected_records": [
    "10 mail1.example.com.",
    "20 mail2.example.com."
  ],
  "timeout_seconds": 10,
  "interval_seconds": 300
}

Common Use Cases

Migration Monitoring - Verify DNS records after migrating services to new infrastructure
CDN Verification - Ensure CNAME records point to the correct CDN endpoint
Email Deliverability - Monitor MX and TXT (SPF/DKIM) records to prevent email delivery issues
Nameserver Health - Check NS records to verify DNS delegation is intact
Unauthorized Changes - Detect unexpected DNS record modifications

⚠️ DNS Caching

DNS records are cached by resolvers based on their TTL (Time to Live) value. After making DNS changes, it may take time for the new values to propagate. Keep this in mind when setting up checks after infrastructure changes.