DNS Monitoring

How DNS Monitoring Works

Unsparing periodically queries DNS resolvers for your records and compares the results against your expected values. If a record changes, disappears, or doesn't propagate correctly, you get an alert.

Adding a DNS Watcher

1. Navigate to DNS → Watchers and click Add Watcher
2. Configure the watcher:

What Gets Monitored

Record Changes

If an A record pointing to 1.2.3.4 suddenly resolves to 5.6.7.8, Unsparing alerts you immediately. This catches:

• Accidental DNS changes
• Hijacking attempts
• Stale records from failed migrations
• TTL expiry pointing to wrong IPs

Propagation Delays

Unsparing checks multiple resolvers across different regions. If your new record hasn't propagated to all resolvers within the expected window, you'll know.

Missing Records

If a record that should exist returns NXDOMAIN, that's an alert. Common causes:

• Accidental deletion
• Registrar issues
• DNS zone file corruption

Alert Types

Supported Record Types

Multi-Resolver Checks

Unsparing queries multiple public resolvers for each check:

• Google DNS (8.8.8.8)
• Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1)
• Quad9 (9.9.9.9)
• OpenDNS (208.67.222.222)

This ensures you get accurate propagation status, not just "it works from my machine."

API Endpoints

List DNS Watchers

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://api.unsparing.dev/api/v1/dns/watchers

Create a DNS Watcher

curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "domain": "example.com",
    "record_type": "A",
    "expected_value": "1.2.3.4",
    "check_interval": 300
  }' \
  https://api.unsparing.dev/api/v1/dns/watchers

Plan Limits

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