SOA Lookup
Retrieve the SOA record of a domain: the primary name server, the admin contact, the zone serial and the timers that control secondary servers.
- Runs on our servers
- Free to use
About this tool
The SOA record is the identity card of a DNS zone, and the first thing to read when name servers disagree. The SOA Lookup returns the primary name server, the administrator contact, the serial and the refresh, retry, expire and negative-caching timers, parsed and in the raw dig output, so you can verify that a zone is published and that secondaries are in sync.
Related: NS Lookup and the DNS Propagation Checker.
This is what a result looks like (trimmed):
$ dig example.com SOA
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com. 3600 IN SOA ns.icann.org. noc.dns.icann.org. 2024041700 7200 3600 1209600 3600How to use it — quick steps
- 01
Enter the domain or hostname
Type or paste the domain or hostname in the field above, for example example.com. Use Ctrl + V to paste.
- 02
Press "Lookup SOA records"
Press "Lookup SOA records" or Ctrl + Enter. The result appears below in a few seconds. Results can be copied.
- 03
Read the result
It appears in the dark panel under the form in a few seconds. Every block has [copy] and other actions.
Key features of this tool
Live answer
The query is sent to a public resolver from our servers, so you see the records the world sees, not a cached copy from your ISP.
Parsed and raw
Records are listed in a clean table and the full dig output is available below it, with an option to copy all to clipboard.
TTL included
Each record shows its time-to-live (TTL), so you know how long DNS caches may keep the old value before refreshing it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SOA record?
Start of Authority: one per zone, it names the primary name server and the administrator (the e-mail with the @ replaced by a dot) and carries the serial number and the refresh, retry, expire and minimum TTL timers.
What does the serial number mean?
A version counter for the zone; secondaries only copy the zone when the primary's serial is higher. Many providers use a date-based format such as 2024041700.
Why do different servers show different serials?
A zone transfer has not happened yet: the secondary is behind the primary. If it stays behind longer than the refresh timer, check NOTIFY and transfer permissions.