Small DNS zone mistakes can cause large outages. Dig can reveal missing dots, wrong targets, stale records, and duplicate configuration.

Useful dig commands

dig www.example.com CNAME
dig example.com MX
dig example.com SOA

Troubleshooting checklist

  1. Look for CNAME conflicts.
  2. Check whether a target is relative or absolute.
  3. Verify MX priority and hostnames.
  4. Confirm TXT records are published as the provider expects.
  5. Check SOA serial when secondary DNS is involved.

How to interpret the result

If the answer matches the expected value, DNS is probably not the layer causing the current symptom. Continue with HTTP, TLS, mail server, firewall, or application checks. If the answer is missing, stale, or different between resolvers, keep the investigation in DNS until the public answer is correct.

Support note

When opening a ticket with a DNS provider, include the exact name, record type, resolver tested, returned value, and time of the lookup. That is much more useful than saying “DNS is not working.”