The SOA (Start of Authority) record is the first record in a DNS zone. It names the primary name server, the administrator's mailbox and the serial number that must increase on every change, plus the timers secondary servers use to stay in sync. Every zone has exactly one.
See it in Action
An SOA (Start of Authority) record is the first record in every DNS zone. It names the primary name server for the zone, the mailbox of the person responsible for it, and the timers that secondary name servers use to stay in sync.
Every zone has exactly one SOA record. Enter a domain above to see it.
An SOA (Start of Authority) record contains the administrative information for a DNS zone: the primary name server, the email address of the zone administrator, the zone serial number, and the refresh, retry, expire and minimum TTL timers.
Enter the domain in the SOA record lookup above and run the check. The tool queries DNS and shows the SOA record currently published for the zone.
The 'refresh' field specifies how often secondary DNS servers should check for updates to the zone file from the primary server.
The 'retry' field determines how frequently secondary DNS servers should retry contacting the primary server if the initial refresh attempt fails.
The 'expire' field sets the duration after which secondary DNS servers should discard the zone data if they cannot contact the primary server.
The 'minimum TTL' specifies the minimum time that DNS resolvers should cache negative responses (e.g., non-existent domain errors).
The serial number is a version number for the zone file; it should increment with each change to indicate updates to secondary DNS servers.
Yes, monitoring and managing SOA records can help ensure DNS security by verifying proper zone configurations and update protocols.
Ensure that your DNS management system or hosting provider is configured to update the serial number with each change, and manually adjust if needed.
The SOA record’s serial number is used to determine if a zone transfer is necessary, helping secondary servers synchronize with the primary server.
Other DNS lookup tools or commands like dig or nslookup can also be used to verify SOA records.
Yes, incorrect SOA record settings can lead to DNS resolution issues, potentially affecting website accessibility and performance.
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