[ Free tool · DNS & Mail Servers ]

SOA Record Checker

Grade your zone's serial, refresh, retry, expire and negative TTL.

[ About this tool ]

This SOA checker reads a zone's Start of Authority record and grades serial, refresh, retry, expire and negative-cache TTL against RFC 1912 recommendations.

How to read the results

  • ›Retry should be lower than refresh.
  • ›Expire should be one to four weeks.
  • ›A long negative-cache TTL delays new SPF and DKIM records being seen.

Frequently asked questions

What is an SOA record?

The Start of Authority record names a zone's primary nameserver and admin contact and sets timers that control how secondary servers and resolvers cache it.

Learn more in our guide: What is Email Authentication? SPF, DKIM and DMARC Explained

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