Free SOA Record Lookup & Checker

Quick select:
Your IP:
Check the DNS record Propagation in Multi-Region Check Multi-Region
Domain Type Primary NS Responsible Person Serial Refresh Retry Expire Minimum TTL
Name Server IP Address TTL
Domain Type TTL Record Value
Trace Result
Domain Type Record Status
Domain Type Record Status
Rate this result

Check live SOA DNS records, TTL values, and trace the full root-to-authoritative resolution path.

SOA (Start of Authority) Records Overview

What is an SOA record?

An SOA record contains administrative information about a domain, including the primary name server, email of the domain administrator, and various timers for refreshing the zone.

Why do you need an SOA record?

The SOA record is essential for DNS zone management, ensuring proper functioning and synchronization of your domain.

SOA record structure

An SOA record includes the primary name server, hostmaster contact, serial number, refresh rate, retry rate, expiration time, and minimum (negative-cache) TTL. Example: example.com. 3600 IN SOA ns1.example.com. hostmaster.example.com. 2021070101 3600 600 1209600 3600. Note the contact is written in dotted form: hostmaster.example.com. means hostmaster@example.com, because DNS replaces the @ with the first dot.

How do you create an SOA record?

You rarely create an SOA by hand - your DNS provider generates it automatically when the zone is created. To adjust it, edit the zone's timers (refresh, retry, expire, minimum) and the hostmaster contact; the serial number must increase on every change so secondary nameservers know to pull the update.

FAQs

The serial number is used to track changes to the DNS zone. It should be incremented with each update.

The refresh rate specifies how often secondary name servers should check for updates to the zone.

Yes, you can manually edit the SOA record, but ensure you understand each parameter to avoid misconfiguration.

The minimum field sets the default negative-caching time - how long resolvers cache 'record not found' (NXDOMAIN) responses for the zone.

Exactly one. Every DNS zone must have a single SOA record that defines its primary nameserver and zone parameters.

SOA Record Troubleshooting & Common Fixes

Secondary DNS servers are out of sync with primary nameserver

If you run primary-secondary (master-slave) DNS servers, secondary servers use the SOA serial number to detect when changes have been made. If you add or modify records in your zone file but forget to increment the serial number, secondary nameservers assume nothing has changed and continue serving old cached records.

How to fix: Always increment your SOA serial number whenever you touch the zone. The industry standard format is YYYYMMDDNN (e.g. 2026101501 for the first revision made on October 15, 2026).

New subdomain still shows “Site Not Found” after creating it

If someone attempts to visit a subdomain before it is created, resolvers cache the negative response (NXDOMAIN). The duration of this negative cache is controlled by the final field of your SOA record: the Minimum TTL (negative caching timer).

How to fix: Check the last number in your SOA record. If it is set to 86400 (1 day), resolvers that received an NXDOMAIN will remember that the record doesn't exist for 24 hours. Keep this timer between 300 and 3600 seconds so new records become accessible quickly.

DNS Info extension for Chrome is now available

Install

Install