DNS Monitoring

DNS Monitoring is the process of tracking the performance, availability, and accuracy of your Domain Name System (DNS). DNS is the system that translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses which computers use to locate and communicate with each other. If your DNS is down or experiencing issues, users may not be able to access your website or services which could lead to potential downtime, lost revenue, and a negative user experience.

Overall, DNS monitoring provides consistent connectivity to your websites and servers, saving you time when diagnosing DNS issues. DNS monitoring ultimately ensures your critical services are always up and running.

DNS monitoring is critical because it ensures that internet-based applications and services operate efficiently and securely. This ongoing monitoring is essential for network operations (NetOps) professionals who strive to maintain high availability, enhance overall user experience, safeguard against potential cybersecurity threats, and facilitate strategic infrastructure planning. The importance of DNS monitoring spans several key areas:

1. Ensuring Uptime and Availability: DNS issues can cause significant disruptions, leading to downtime or inaccessible websites and services. Continuous monitoring of DNS ensures that servers are functioning correctly and responding as expected, minimizing the risk of disruptions that could affect users and business operations.
2. Performance Optimization: DNS resolution times are crucial for the smooth operation of online services; even minimal delays can degrade user experience significantly. Regular monitoring helps identify and rectify issues with slow or underperforming DNS servers, thereby improving the speed and reliability of website access.
3. Security Enhancements: The DNS infrastructure is a common target for various cyber threats such as DNS spoofing, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and cache poisoning. By actively monitoring DNS traffic and patterns, these threats can be identified early, allowing for timely intervention to mitigate potential security breaches and protect sensitive data.
4. Error Detection and Resolution: Incorrectly configured DNS records are a common issue that can lead to traffic misrouting or services becoming unavailable. Regular DNS monitoring allows for the early detection of such configuration errors and other anomalies, making it possible to correct these issues before they impact service availability and user trust.
5. Regulatory Compliance and Auditing: Maintaining a secure and robust DNS infrastructure for organizations in regulated industries is not just best practice but a regulatory requirement. DNS monitoring aids in compliance by providing audit trails and evidence of due diligence in network management and security protocols.
6. Insights and Analytics: Beyond troubleshooting and security, DNS monitoring can offer insights into user behavior, geographic distribution of traffic, and overall network efficiency. These analytics are invaluable for making informed decisions about service improvements, marketing strategies, and customer engagement.
7. DNS monitoring is a cornerstone of modern NetOps, indispensable for ensuring that internet-based services are reliable, fast, and secure. By investing in comprehensive DNS monitoring tools and practices, organizations can significantly enhance their operational resilience and strategic planning capabilities.

To troubleshoot a DNS error, start by reviewing the error details for each server node in the DNS tree. If DNS errors are frequent, consider setting up a separate DNS task with “Verify Response On” set to “First Responding” and monitor the domain’s resolution regularly.

Also, you should investigate areas like network devices, browsers, DNS records, your service provider, and potential latency issues. It’s helpful to have a troubleshooting checklist, starting with the easiest items to review, like network devices, before moving on to more complex issues, such as misconfigured DNS records or latency problems.

Refer to our wiki, to get more information on how to fix DNS errors step-by-step.

The short answer to this is: yes. DNSSEC is a suite of extensions that improve Domain Name System (DNS) security by verifying that DNS results have not been tampered with. Enterprises can use DNSSEC to prevent attacks related to DNS spoofing, DNS cache poisoning, etc.

When DNS was developed, security was not a top priority. Because of this, when sending a request to an authoritative DNS server, the resolver cannot verify the authenticity of the response sent by name servers to clients. The resolver is only able to check if the response comes from the same IP address to which the original request was sent. DNSSEC helps verify the authenticity of DNS responses through digital signatures for DNS records. You can learn more about DNSSEC validation in this knowledgebase article.

Here are some types of DNS queries that can be monitored:

• IP addresses: Compare the IP address received from the system to the IP addresses you provide
• SOA records: Monitor the serial number, which is updated when a change occurs
• MX and SRV records: Monitor these records to prevent loss of communication pathways
• NS records and root servers: Test NS records to ensure no one has tampered with the primary and backup nameserver records
• A records: Map a website’s domain or subdomain to an IPv4 address
• CERT records: Verify the authenticity of a site and deliver encrypted data
• CNAME records: Provide an alias that allows users to use title variations that direct them to the same part of a website

DNS monitoring can help with:

• Diagnosing issues
• Preventing targeted attacks
• Identifying security breaches
• Avoiding unplanned downtime
• Protecting users’ private information
• Protecting revenue
• Protecting brand reputation