New platform release
This is our most extensive and comprehensive release to date. Over the last year, we have rewritten the majority of our backend, front end and monitoring code. We have implemented many changes and additions, a new price list and a new look and feel to our GUI. We have also released a completely new and updated website.
We are happy to announce not only a completely redesigned and updated web interface, but also a host of new features and additions that will make our DNS monitoring service even better.
New DNS checks
The most significant addition to our already substantial family of DNS checks is the new DNSSEC checks. DNSSEC can be tricky to get right; it is important to check that it works and has the prerequisites to work at all times.
We have also added additional checks to monitor mail-related records such as DMARC, SPF and DKIM records, and we now check MX resource records on all authoritative DNS servers instead of a randomly selected DNS.
Our Delegation check has been given a facelift, and now the parent-child relation is checked on all authoritative servers. We will add another feature to this check in the near future, checking for dangling NS records at the parent level, but that will come later.
Since we’re suckers for the security features the DNS can provide, we’ve also added a check for the all-important CAA (Certification Authority Authorisation) record.
We have also extended the chaos class queries to include id.server and hostname.bind names so that the DNS operator is aware of what they return when queried.
Read more about all of our checks in the DNS check Knowledge base.
Introducing DNS check packages
By popular demand, we have closed the gap between the Basic and Premium plan by allowing customers to add check packages to the current Basic plan.
The check packages are called Availability package, Integrity package, Mail package and finally DNSSEC package. The packages and the check contents of each package are described in detail in our DNS check knowledge base.
Resource record checks additions
Our previously named Host Record Checks have been renamed Resource Record Checks. In addition to the previous A/AAA/CNAME/PTR checks, they now include checks for TXT, the specially formatted SPF TXT record, SRV, TLSA, CAA and NAPTR records. The new resource records will allow our customers to further tailor monitoring to their individual domains.
API
Our long-awaited public API is now officially released. The API allows you to programmatically create, modify and delete domains, locations and collect monitoring data. Pretty much everything you can do in the GUI, but from your choice of platform and code base.
Dashboard & GUI
We have updated the look and feel of the user interface to be more in line with what you find on other cloud platforms. We introduce Prorated Payment and have updated the detailed dashboard grid to better accommodate the new DNS checks and much more.
A new price list
We have adjusted our pricing and hope that this will be beneficial to all our customers. The new price list is more in line with other cloud platforms and services where the customer is responsible for only paying for what they need, rather than us anticipating what they need. The new price list is available here.
Free mode
Don’t worry, we haven’t removed the option to use our DNS monitoring service for free. After the 14 day trial period we will freeze the account and stop all services until you log in to the service as a customer and select the ‘Free mode’ option. You will then be able to select a domain to monitor. The main difference is that in free mode the check run will only be executed once every 24 hours. We believe that our new price list makes the free mode a bit redundant as everyone can afford our services.