Top DNS Monitoring Tool Options will be discussed in this article. Your calm supposition that the DNS (domain name system) provider hosting your domain names would cheerfully reroute traffic to your servers is most likely right. I don’t want to disrupt your tranquility. Nonetheless, you should be patient and depend on your DNS provider since there are risks that might jeopardize it and performance issues that could degrade visitors’ experiences on your website.
A worldwide hacking campaign began around a year ago to target DNS servers with a specific vulnerability. Many DNS servers are now routing traffic to rogue websites as a result of the attacks. Although the flaws were subsequently rectified, the assault served as a wake-up call for all network managers and website owners to check their DNS infrastructure.
As a result, DNS monitoring tools have become vital for maintaining any IT system, independent of its design or intended application. Before we go into DNS monitoring, let’s define what it means to entrust a domain name to a DNS provider. DNS records, or files, map domain names to particular IP addresses. These files are stored on name servers. Furthermore, root nameservers located across the globe record the locations of top-level domains (TLDs) such as.com,.org, and.edu.
Each TLD specifies numerous servers that monitor where each domain’s DNS records are stored; these servers are often DNS providers or registrars such as GoDaddy or Namecheap. These are the domain names’ authoritative servers. When you add a domain name to a DNS provider’s servers, those servers become authoritative for any queries referring to the new domain.
Following this presentation, it is clear how crucial DNS is to network efficiency and how it acts as a breeding ground for security problems. As the first point of contact between end users and their services, you are responsible for guaranteeing DNS availability and performance. A dependable DNS monitoring service is also essential to ensure these two requirements.
What Does DNS Monitoring Do?
To frequently evaluate the stability of the DNS servers and stay up to date on any changes in the DNS system, you must monitor the DNS provider that maintains your domain names. By adopting this, you will be notified of possible site attacks or when an inconsistent or troublesome DNS is harming your site’s overall performance.
DNS monitoring tools evaluate communication between domain name authoritative name servers and recursive name servers, which act as cache memory to speed up the name lookup process. This testing may be done either manually or automatically at regular intervals. If the testing is done automatically, the tool should notify you of the results. These tools may also be used to compare services from various providers or to validate the DNS service provider’s service level agreement (SLA).
A DNS MONITORING SERVICE MUST VERIFY the DNS service’s capacity to return the correct set of IP addresses until it reaches the root DNS server. This enables it to detect DNS spoofing and hijacking attempts. A DNS flood is another kind of assault; to detect one, a DNS monitoring tool should detect DNS slowdowns and alert a network administrator when a flood attack is possible. Every DNS monitoring service should perform these basic duties, but the various solutions available provide a number of additional features that must be evaluated in order to choose the best one. Let’s look at some of the best DNS monitoring tools presently available.
Top 12 Best DNS Monitoring Tool Options in 2024
We’ve produced a list of the Best DNS Monitoring Tool Options to assist you choose the best one.
1. ZoneWatcher
ZoneWatcher automates DNS monitoring, reporting, and backup. With our DNS Monitoring Tool, you’ll always have a backup copy of your DNS records in case anything goes wrong or an unexpected change occurs. It has a sophisticated changelog that allows you to see a zone’s entire history of alterations. ZoneWatcher, which is mainly intended for commercial usage, allows you to monitor domains from many providers if you deal with a large number of customers. Divide the monitoring staff by the managed item, allowing you to build teams. The data may be exported as zone files and/or accessed via a REST API, allowing your application to interact with the data. The warnings may be provided by email.
2. Uptrends
We understand that just monitoring your IP address will not enable you to identify every possible DNS problem. Uptrends provides External DNS Monitoring, which tracks all essential DNS records from a worldwide network of checkpoints. The Uptrends service also monitors DNS zone delegates, SMTP mail server mappings, aliases, and SOA numbers, in addition to DNS A records (IPv4) and AAAA records (IPv6). To avoid downtime, alarms are sent across many channels as soon as a DNS problem occurs, enabling you and your team to respond promptly. In addition, Uptrends may provide you with reports including critical information, such as the number of DNS servers collected from all around the globe and their performance.
3. StatusCake
Because of the StatusCake domain monitoring tool’s timely notifications, squatters will not be able to take over your domain and hurt your organization if you fail to renew it on time. You may also monitor changes to your DNS records. StatusCake provides three options, one of which is free with a few limitations and a 5-minute trial window. The membership options provide a free trial period and include additional services such as SMS notifications, 30-second testing intervals, and team tools.
4. DNS Spy
DNS Spy was created for those who are concerned about the security of their DNS. As the name suggests, it focuses only on DNS monitoring. To test it out, just add your domain and wait for the service’s findings. With warnings and suggestions for each reported item, the system will automatically discover all relevant DNS entries and provide a detailed report describing connectivity, performance, security, resilience, and coverage issues.
The comprehensive monitoring service not only keeps a complete history of changes and backs up your DNS records in case you need to restore them, but it also sends notifications whenever a record changes. It also checks to see whether all of your nameservers are in sync and alerts you to any inaccurate or RFC-incompatible setups. The pricing plans are divided into three categories, each covering a different number of domains.
5. AppNeta
AppNeta’s approach to DNS monitoring, although adaptable to any network architecture, is especially well-suited for enterprises transitioning to the cloud. It employs a comprehensive monitoring engine that covers a broad range of servers, both internal and external, and collaborates with a number of ISPs and DNS providers. AppNeta stores the data for a full year at no additional cost. Analyzing the data allows you to observe how DNS resolution impacts your application’s user experience. You may also search for patterns in performance spikes or identify worsening trends in performance. The monitoring service incorporates the application context in its reports to help IT professionals uncover DNS resolution problems that are related to application issues. AppNeta’s network performance monitoring capabilities are closely tied to DNS monitoring.
6. Site24x7
Site24x7 provides a unified monitoring solution for servers, public and private clouds, websites, and applications. The website monitoring system additionally checks the FTP, SSL, SMTP, POP, URL, API, HTTPS protocols, and DNS service. It provides alarms, comprehensive reports with screen recording, and second checks from many places. The services may be monitored via the internet, intranet, Wi-Fi, and 3G/4G networks. DNS monitoring, in example, provides detailed interruption and performance statistics while also categorizing the end-user experience as happy, neutral, or dissatisfied. Alerts and notifications may be sent by voice calls, SMS, emails, Twitter, RSS feeds, or push mobile notifications.
7. DNS Check
DNS Check provides a DNS-only monitoring solution. It often monitors DNS records and name servers for lookup errors or alterations and tells you if any changes are detected. You may either enter the DNS entries you want to monitor or import the whole zone file into the system. DNS Check allows you to offer a URL that specifies which records need to be changed whenever they are necessary. Updates are detected and you will be informed. DNS Check identifies what has to be fixed and helps you determine if a DNS issue exists for troubleshooting purposes. If you need to monitor 10 domains, DNS Check may be utilized for free. If you need to monitor more than 10 domains, consider a subscription package.
8. Sucuri
Sucuri provides DNS monitoring services as part of its website security platform. Simply turning on website malware detection in the Sucuri UI will enable these services. The monitoring service generates warnings when DNS record changes occur. When your DNS goes down, unintended changes are made, or hackers alter your DNS with malicious intent, the Sucuri monitoring solution notifies you. The scanning frequency may be adjusted using the Sucuri dashboard to match your needs. You may opt to get notifications by email, SMS, Slack, or RSS. Additionally, the email reports provide a lot of information for forensic study.
9. Dotcom-monitor
Dotcom-Monitor’s enterprise-level DNS monitoring ensures DNS availability and functionality from over 30 worldwide monitoring sites while providing quick alerts (by email, SMS, or phone). You may also see performance statistics. sluggish performance is directly caused by sluggish DNS resolution, which may be highly costly for organizations. When an issue occurs, Dotcom-Monitor, unlike other DNS monitoring tool, shows the whole DNS propagation route, enabling you to immediately identify the source of the problem.
10. Catchpoint
Catchpoint’s DNS monitoring tool provides a realistic perspective of DNS performance by accessing hundreds of vantage points from various providers, including backbone, cloud, last mile, internet, and wireless. By requesting that each server in the DNS route establish the cause of failure, it is possible to verify true DNS speed, dependability, reachability, and availability, hence aiding in issue troubleshooting and isolation. Catchpoint detects misconfigured nameservers in your resolution chain by analyzing the DNS cache and performance of well-known DNS resolvers. The technology detects potential attacks early on by identifying anomalous response times and by monitoring DNS servers. The DNS performance monitor monitors your DNS provider and allows you to compare providers to find the best option for your relocation.
11. Paessler PRTG
Paessler AG’s network monitoring software, PRTG, provides unified monitoring of bandwidth, servers, applications, network devices, virtual environments, the Internet of Things, remote systems, and other components. The DNS monitoring tool, in particular, monitors the performance and availability of your DNS servers, providing detailed information and notifying you promptly in the event of a problem or outage.
The company has six distinct price levels, varying in the number of sensors that can be installed (from 500 to infinite) and the number of servers that can host them. PRTG enables you to monitor several features of a device, including sensors. Examples include the quantity of traffic flowing over a network connection, a certain URL, a switch port, or a computer’s CPU load. Users may easily customize the system to monitor anything they need by licensing the number of sensors rather than the number of devices.
12. Nagios
Both Nagios XI and Nagios Core, well-known monitoring systems used by millions of consumers and thousands of enterprises ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to small business owners, provide DNS monitoring. Using Nagios to monitor DNS servers, protocols, and queries may help you improve the availability of servers, services, and applications, discover network failures and protocol issues, and detect DNS hijacking and spoofing rapidly. Third-party components, such as plugins and wizards from the Nagios Exchange, may be integrated into the Nagios monitoring system. The basic system benefits tremendously from these upgrades, which include improved reporting capabilities, mobile log access, in-depth analysis, and other unique features. Nagios also monitors protocols other than DNS, including SNMP, HTTP, SSH, FTP, and SMTP.
The Bottom Line:
It is acceptable to be concerned about keeping your website up and running. You may choose the domain monitoring option that best calms your paranoia from our extensive list below. Making a choice today requires assessing the costs and benefits. Finally, keep in mind that the cost covers more than simply the first or monthly payment. It also covers the time it takes you or your staff to remain up to date on your DNS services, resolve issues, and, ideally, recover from disasters.