Documentation

Spec10DNS Monitoring (S10DNS)

About Spec10DNS Checks

The Spec10DNS check (S10DNS) is designed to monitor DNS to the ICANN Registry Agreement, specification 10 requirements. It needs 20+ regular NodePing DNS checks configured for 20+ locations running at 1 minute intervals.

If you're not a registrar, this isn't likely a useful check for you. You're probably looking for our regular DNS checks.

When to use Spec10DNS Checks

If you're a registrar that is bound by the ICANN Registry Agreement (version 2017-07-31), you'll find the Spec10DNS check will provide the required uptime monitoring for specification 10, paragraph 3. Only 3.6 is not satisfied by this check.

Using Spec10DNS Checks

To set up a Spec10DNS check,

Select S10DNS from the Check type drop down.
Give it a friendly label to identify this check in lists and notifications.
The check must run at a 1 minute interval to be valid.
Specify a child DNS check in the "DNS checks" dropdown by choosing an existing DNS check from the dropdown.
Add additional child DNS checks by clicking on "Add another DNS check"
At least 20 child checks must be configured for the collated results to be valid.
Set the Sensitivity. High is appropriate.
Set the notifications for this check. More information about notifications.

Common usage:

To monitor registry DNS performance according to the ICANN Registry Agreement, specification 10, paragraph 3.

Other considerations

Due to the strict requirements of Specification 10, it is advised to use at least 24 child DNS checks to ensure there are enough valid results and locations to satisfy the Spec 10 requirements.

Child DNS checks must be set with the following configurations:

Interval: 1 minute
Threshold: 8 seconds for TCP, 3 seconds for UDP
DNSSEC: if available, must be verified

Child results will be classified into one of four categories for purposes of the SLA. The child check results are returned in the 'data' element when querying the Spec10DNS check results via the API.

oldresults: If the child check results are older than the required interval of the Spec10DNS check. These do not count towards results requirements or location requirements.
unanswered: If the child check result RTT is 5X the timeout as defined by Spec 10.
sla_fail: If the child check result RTT is a timeout according to Spec 10 or if the DNS server responded with a failing result such as no resolution.
pass: Anything that didn't fall into one of the categories above.
sla: The metrics used for SLA fail - the timeouts defined.
locations: Array of probe locations the child checks ran at.
percentageFailing: Float number representing the percentage of child checks that are failing.