When a client's nameservers or mail routing change, you get an alert with the old and new records side by side, whether the change was planned or not.
Why DNS changes stay hidden
A changed NS record is how a domain moves from one DNS provider to another, and whoever controls the nameservers controls everything else in the zone. A changed MX record sends a company's email to a different server. Neither change touches the website, so uptime checks stay green while replies stop arriving or someone else holds the keys.
What OctoPing checks
OctoPing watches two record types, and each has its own switch on the site: nameserver (NS) records and mail exchanger (MX) records. Both start switched off. It queries the registered domain, so shop.example.com is checked as example.com, sorts the records and compares them with the previous lookup. The first lookup sets the baseline.
The default is a lookup every 6 hours, and you can choose every hour, every 6 hours, every 12 hours or every day.
What the alert says
The subject reads DNS Changed and names the record type and the site. The body lists the previous records and the new ones. If NS and MX both change in the same check, you get one alert for each. Planned moves alert too, such as a switch of email provider, and the side-by-side records let you tell a planned change from a surprise in a few seconds.
Website: https://example.com
Status: NS records changed
Previous NS records:
ns1.old-dns.example, ns2.old-dns.example
New NS records:
ns1.new-dns.example, ns2.new-dns.example
The NS records for this website have changed.
View details in OctoPing: <link to the site>DNS alerts use the change-alert switch on each alert rule, which is on by default. They reach the email, Slack, Discord, webhook and browser push channels you've set up. A client who is a contact on a status page showing the site gets the DNS alert too.
How it fits the price
Every site gets dns monitoring along with uptime, SSL and the other checks, and no plan limits which checks a site can use. Plans start at $19 a month for 20 sites. See pricing for the full list.
Every account starts with a 14-day free trial. No card required. Start your 14-day trial, add a client's site, and the checks you turn on start with it.
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Related
- FeatureDomain expiry monitoring and alerts for every client siteGet an alert before a client's domain expires, and when its registrar, name servers or lock flags change. On by default for every site you add.
- FeatureHosting change detection for every site you manageGet an alert when a site moves to a different hosting provider or CDN, with the old and new network named. Address changes inside one network stay quiet.
- DocsChecks referenceWhat each of the eight checks and heartbeats measures, whether it is on by default, how often it runs and what counts as a failure or a change.