DNS monitor

What it checks

Uptiva asks a public resolver for a record of the domain. The monitor is up when the lookup works and returns a result, and down when it fails.

When to use it

To notice DNS outages or deleted records (A, MX, TXT and so on). The monitor does not compare the answer with an expected value, but the Records list on the monitor page shows exactly what came back.

Create it

1. Open /app and click New monitor.
2. Under What to monitor choose DNS.
3. Under Details enter a Name, the Domain (for example example.com) and the Record type: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, SOA, PTR, SRV or CAA.
4. Under Schedule pick Check every (a new DNS monitor starts at 15 minutes).
5. Under Alerts choose where alerts go (Send alerts to). See Alerts.
6. Click Create monitor. The first check runs right away.

Check interval

Options are 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour and 1 day. The shortest is 5 minutes.

What the monitor page shows

A Details card:

• DNS: whether DNSSEC is valid and how many records were returned.
• Records: each record with its type, value and TTL.

Alerts

You are alerted when the monitor goes down and when it recovers, through the channels you pick. Alert after sets how many failed checks in a row are needed (1 to 5). Quiet hours, reminders and escalation work as described in Alerts.

Common problems and limits

• Down after a change. New records can take time to spread. Use Alert after 2 or 3 to ride out short gaps.
• One record type per monitor. Create one monitor for each type you care about.