How do I check DNS records for a domain?

Enter your domain name in the DNS checker, choose a specific record type or All Records, and submit. Webalert queries authoritative DNS servers from outside your local network and returns all configured records, TTL values, and response latency.

What DNS record types can I inspect?

You can inspect A (IPv4), AAAA (IPv6), CNAME (aliases), MX (mail servers), TXT (verification, SPF, DKIM, DMARC), NS (nameservers), SOA (start of authority), CAA (certificate authorities), and SRV service records.

Why is my DNS change not showing up yet?

DNS changes rely on TTL (Time-To-Live). Until the previous TTL expires in intermediate recursive resolvers, cached responses may be served. Checking DNS from an external server like Webalert shows fresh records as seen by upstream resolvers.

Can I monitor DNS records automatically for unexpected changes?

Yes. Webalert provides automated DNS monitoring that queries your domain on a schedule and immediately notifies you if records disappear, resolve to unexpected IPs, or fail to respond.

DNS Record Checker & Lookup

Inspect A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, CNAME, SOA, and CAA records from outside your network. Check TTLs, response time, and propagation instantly.

Quick filter:

Free · No sign-up · Server-side lookup · Live TTL & latency

Managing production domains? Monitor DNS records 24/7 for unexpected changes — free forever.

What this DNS checker inspects

DNS misconfigurations account for a significant percentage of silent outages. This checker queries upstream resolvers to inspect every record type that powers your domain.

A & AAAA Records

Verify that your IPv4 and IPv6 addresses point to active web servers or load balancers.

MX (Mail Exchange)

Check mail exchanger priority and routing to ensure email reaches your mailboxes without bouncing.

TXT & SPF / DMARC

Verify SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication policies, ownership tokens, and security flags.

NS (Nameservers)

Inspect authoritative nameserver delegations and verify consistency across DNS providers.

CNAME & Aliases

Trace subdomain aliases to CDNs, PaaS hosting (Vercel, AWS, Cloudflare), or status pages.

SOA & CAA Records

Confirm zone refresh/retry intervals and restrict certificate authorities allowed to issue SSL certificates.

Common DNS failures that take sites down

TTL caching lag: Long TTL values mean configuration updates or failovers can take hours or days to propagate to visitors worldwide.

Dangling CNAMEs: Subdomains pointing to decommissioned third-party buckets or services can lead to subdomain takeover or broken routing.

Broken SPF/DMARC syntax: An accidental formatting mistake in a TXT record can cause outgoing transactional emails to be sent straight to spam.

Nameserver glue failure: Mismatched nameservers at your registrar vs your DNS host can lead to intermittent resolution drops across different ISPs.

Use our tools together: diagnose HTTP connectivity with the website down checker, check TLS certificate status with the SSL checker, or test server ports with the port checker.

Frequently asked questions

How does this DNS checker work?: Enter a domain or hostname. We query public and authoritative DNS resolvers from Webalert infrastructure and return parsed records, TTL values, and query latency.
What is TTL in DNS records?: TTL (Time-To-Live) is the duration in seconds that intermediate DNS resolvers cache a record. A 300s TTL means changes propagate in ~5 minutes, while 86400s means changes take up to 24 hours.
What does NXDOMAIN mean?: NXDOMAIN (Non-Existent Domain) means the authoritative nameservers confirmed that the domain does not exist. This happens if the domain has expired, is misspelled, or DNS records have been deleted.
Can I monitor DNS records automatically?: Yes. Webalert DNS monitoring verifies your DNS resolution on a recurring schedule and immediately alerts your team if records change, disappear, or fail to resolve.