A and AAAA records
The IPv4 and IPv6 addresses the domain points to — the foundation of where your site is served from.
Free DNS Lookup Tool
Enter a domain to look up its DNS records: A and AAAA addresses, MX mail servers, NS nameservers, TXT, CNAME, and SOA — all in one query.
Start your 7-day trial — no credit card, free plan after.
Look up DNS records
Enter a domain (for example, northduty.com). NorthDuty queries DNS and returns the records it finds.
Free check. No signup. Results are not published or indexed.
How NorthDuty DNS monitoring works
Enter a domain (for example, northduty.com). NorthDuty queries DNS and returns the records it finds. Recurring checks are configured inside the NorthDuty app.
What this DNS lookup reports
A single query returns the record types you need most when diagnosing DNS and mail issues.
MX records
The mail servers that accept email for the domain, with their priorities, so you can diagnose delivery issues.
NS and SOA
The authoritative nameservers and the start-of-authority record, useful when verifying a DNS migration.
TXT and CNAME
TXT records (SPF, DKIM, verification) and CNAME aliases that often cause subtle configuration problems.
Why check DNS records
Most 'the site is down' incidents that aren't the server are DNS — misconfigured records, stale caches, or a missed migration.
- Confirm a domain points to the right IP addresses
- Verify MX records after changing email providers
- Check SPF/DKIM TXT records for email deliverability
- Confirm nameservers after a DNS migration
- Spot CNAME chains that break subdomains
How the DNS lookup works
No signup — enter a domain and get its records immediately.
1
Enter a domain
Type any domain name. NorthDuty queries public DNS for the common record types.
2
We resolve the records
A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, CNAME, and SOA are looked up in parallel.
3
You get the results
Records are grouped by type so you can scan them quickly — no report snapshot is stored.
4
Monitor it continuously
NorthDuty's health checks include DNS so a broken or changed record is caught on a schedule.
What each DNS record does
The records this lookup returns, and what breaks when each one is wrong.
| Record | What it does | What a mistake looks like |
|---|---|---|
| A / AAAA | Points the domain at an IPv4 / IPv6 address | Site unreachable, or still serving the old host after a migration |
| CNAME | Aliases one name to another | A dangling CNAME pointing at a service you stopped paying for — a takeover risk as well as a broken subdomain |
| MX | Routes email to your mail provider | Mail silently bounces or lands nowhere after a provider change |
| NS | Names the authoritative nameservers | Edits made at the wrong registrar appear to do nothing |
| TXT | Holds SPF, DKIM and DMARC, plus verification strings | Email goes to spam; two SPF records is a common and quietly fatal error |
| SOA | Zone metadata and default TTLs | Rarely a problem on its own, useful for confirming which zone answered |
DNS problems worth catching early
DNS fails in ways that look like something else entirely.
The migration that half happened
The A record moved, the mail records did not — or the reverse. Check every record type after a host change, not just that the site loads.
Two SPF records
The standard allows exactly one. Adding a second when you add a new sending tool breaks authentication for all of them, and the symptom is email landing in spam.
A domain quietly expiring
Registrar renewal notices go to an address nobody reads any more. The first sign is the whole site vanishing on a date nobody had in the calendar.
TTL set too long
A 24-hour TTL means a mistake stays live for a day. Lower it to a few minutes a day before a planned migration, then raise it again afterwards.
Nameservers pointing at the old provider
Records edited at the registrar have no effect because a different provider is authoritative. The NS record is what tells you where to edit.
A dangling subdomain
A CNAME still pointing at a decommissioned service can sometimes be claimed by someone else — a real risk, not a tidiness issue.
About propagation
DNS changes do not travel; caches expire. A resolver that looked up your record five minutes ago keeps serving the old answer until the TTL you set runs out, which is why a change can look live to you and stale to a customer.
So a lookup like this one answers a narrow question precisely — what the authoritative records say right now — and does not tell you what every resolver in the world is still caching. If you are mid-migration, lower the TTL first, then change the record.
Go Beyond One-Off Checks
Use the tool preview for a quick answer, then move into recurring monitoring for your most important pages and journeys.
Feature
DNS Monitoring
Monitor DNS resolution with NorthDuty as part of website health checks, so domain and resolution issues are visible before important pages become unreachable.
Explore DNS MonitoringFeature
Uptime Monitoring
Monitor uptime every 5 minutes by default with HTTP, SSL, DNS, blank-page detection, broken resources, JavaScript errors, and API call tracking.
Explore Uptime MonitoringFeature
SSL Certificate Monitoring
Monitor SSL certificates with NorthDuty website health checks so validity, trust, and expiry issues are visible before visitors are blocked.
Explore SSL Certificate MonitoringPricing
Pricing
NorthDuty plans are sized by how many checkout, signup and login journeys you monitor: Free, $29 Starter, $79 Pro, $199 Business. 7-day trial, no card.
Compare pricing plansFrequently Asked Questions
Answers about this diagnostic preview and when to move into recurring monitoring.
What is a DNS lookup?
A query that asks which records a domain publishes — its A and AAAA addresses, mail servers (MX), nameservers (NS), text records (TXT, including SPF and DMARC) and any CNAME aliases. It is the first thing to check when a site or its email stops resolving.
Why does my DNS change not take effect?
Either resolvers are still caching the old answer until its TTL expires, or you edited records at a provider that is no longer authoritative for the domain. The NS records in the result tell you which provider actually answers for it.
How do I check my SPF or DMARC record?
They live in TXT records, which this lookup returns. SPF starts with v=spf1 and there must be exactly one; DMARC is published on the _dmarc subdomain, so look it up separately.
Can I monitor DNS records for changes?
Yes, and it is worth doing on any domain that earns money — a changed or expiring record takes a site or its email offline in a way that looks like a server problem. NorthDuty checks DNS resolution as part of every health check.
Is this DNS lookup free?
Yes. The DNS lookup tool is free and requires no signup. Enter a domain and you get its records immediately.
Which record types does it check?
A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, CNAME, and SOA — the record types most useful for diagnosing website and email issues.
Why do I see no records for a type?
Not every domain has every record type. An empty result for, say, CNAME or MX usually just means none are configured.
Does this show propagation across resolvers?
This tool queries from the server's resolver. DNS changes can take time to propagate globally, so results may differ from other locations during a change.
Start monitoring your website with NorthDuty today.
A one-off DNS lookup catches today's problem. NorthDuty watches DNS continuously and alerts you when records change or break.
7 days with Pro features and limits, no credit card — then keep one daily journey on the free plan.