Add these Free DNS Tools to your Tech Stack

‍What Do You Have In Your DNS Toolbox?

Let’s face it. Without the right tools, working with DNS can sometimes make you want to bang your head against the wall. But that can be painful and, well, it’s totally unproductive. Luckily, Constellix has several free tools that can help you troubleshoot and test your DNS, as well as free cheat sheets that put pertinent DNS information right at your fingertips. 

Yep, I said free! And who doesn’t like free stuff?

In this blog, you’ll find all the nifty tools and cheat sheets Constellix has developed to help make your job easier. Be sure to bookmark it! That way, anytime you do feel the urge to bang your head on a wall or punch your monitor, you can save yourself a headache, some time, and a nice chunk of change if you actually go through with the monitor punching. Speaking of money, you’ll also be saving your company money by fixing DNS errors, so there’s also that.

DNS Tools for Testing and Troubleshooting

Below you’ll find an overview of each of our free resources that will help you keep your DNS in tip-top shape.

DNS Lookup Tool

Constellix’s DNS Lookup Tool generates DNS record information for domains and is queried against user-provided authoritative nameservers. This resource allows you to perform lookups in 32 different locations around the globe. You can also filter results by resolver, record type, and domain name. You can also copy the link to the results and share it with other team members.

Traceroute Tool

Our traceroute tool lets you troubleshoot network issues from anywhere and from any device. What makes this resource unique is that it performs lookups from more than 25 global locations. The results are provided in either an easy-to-read line graph or data table, and you can also share your results with your team.

DNS Cheat Sheets

There’s a lot to remember when it comes to DNS. On top of that, there are many tasks and configurations that aren’t done on a regular basis. Why rack your brain and waste time trying to figure something out when you can just whip out a handy cheat sheet!

DNS Records Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet references the most used DNS records, as well as a quick explanation of what they’re used for. Records included on the sheet are:

• A (address) records
• AAAA (quad A) records
• ANAME records
• CNAME (canonical name) records
• SOA (start of authority) records
• NS (name server) records
• MX (mail exchange) records
• TXT (text) records
• SRV (service) records
• SPF (sender framework policy framework) records
• PTR (pointer) records
  

Subnet Mask Cheat Sheet

Anyone who knows anything about subnet masks knows they can make your head spin. This cheat sheet is a guide to sub-class C blocks—a must-have resource for anyone working with DNS.

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Would you like a cheat sheet on another DNS topic? Let us know and we’ll try to make it happen, Cap’n!

Performance Tools: Multi-CDN Live Performance Tool

With the increased demand for image and video-intensive content, you can’t neglect your CDN performance. Whether your company uses one or many CDNs, our Multi-CDN Live Performance Tool gives you valuable insight into how your CDN(s) are behaving and is delivering content to your users the fastest. Compare up to 14 CDNs in all continents, 42 countries, as well as in all US states in addition to the District of Columbia, Guam Gu, Federated States of Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. You can also configure the tool based on ASN and resource size (small, medium, large). After applying your filters, you have the option to download the performance graph as a PNG or SVG file for your records or to share with your team.

Bonus Tool: Cost of an Outage Calculator Tool

Trying to convince your boss to add more redundant solutions for your company’s domain? If this doesn’t strike fear in his or her heart, nothing will!

Our outage tool allows you to get realistic calculations of what a DDoS attack or DNS/ CDN-related outage can cost your organization based on your actual numbers.