Azure DNS Zone Test

In Microsoft Azure, a DNS zone is a container that holds DNS records for a specific domain. Essentially, it's where the administrators manage the domain names and their associated records that Azure’s DNS service will use to direct traffic for that domain.

This test monitors the target Microsoft Azure DNS Zones and reports the number of DNS queries sent to a DNS server, state of the DNS zone, and the maximum number of records a DNS zone can handle/store/process. Using this test, administrators can drill down to find out which name server is contributing to increased DNS query time.

Target of the Test: A Microsoft Azure DNS Zone

Agent deploying the test: A remote agent

Output of the test: One set of results for the Microsoft Azure DNS Zone that is monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The host for which the test is to be configured.

Subscription ID

Specify the GUID which uniquely identifies the Microsoft Azure Subscription to be monitored. To know the ID that maps to the target subscription, do the following:

  1. Login to the Microsoft Azure Portal.

  2. When the portal opens, click on the Subscriptions option (as indicated by Figure 1).

    Figure 1 : Clicking on the Subscriptions option

  3. Figure 2 that appears next will list all the subscriptions that have been configured for the target Azure AD tenant. Locate the subscription that is being monitored in the list, and check the value displayed for that subscription in the Subscription ID column.

    Figure 2 : Determining the Subscription ID

  4. Copy the Subscription ID in Figure 2 to the text box corresponding to the SUBSCRIPTION ID parameter in the test configuration page.

Tenant ID

Specify the Directory ID of the Azure AD tenant to which the target subscription belongs. To know how to determine the Directory ID, refer to Configuring the eG Agent to Monitor a Microsoft Azure Subscription Using Azure ARM REST API.

Client ID, Client Password, and Confirm Password

To connect to the target subscription, the eG agent requires an Access token in the form of an Application ID and the client secret value. For this purpose, you should register a new application with the Azure AD tenant. To know how to create such an application and determine its Application ID and client secret, refer to Configuring the eG Agent to Monitor a Microsoft Azure Subscription Using Azure ARM REST API. Specify the Application ID of the created Application in the Client ID text box and the client secret value in the Client Password text box. Confirm the Client Password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box.

Proxy Host and Proxy Port

In some environments, all communication with the Azure cloud be routed through a proxy server. In such environments, you should make sure that the eG agent connects to the cloud via the proxy server and collects metrics. To enable metrics collection via a proxy, specify the IP address of the proxy server and the port at which the server listens against the Proxy Host and Proxy Port parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none, indicating that the eG agent is not configured to communicate via a proxy, by default.

Proxy Username, Proxy Password and Confirm Password

If the proxy server requires authentication, then, specify a valid proxy user name and password in the Proxy Username and Proxy Password parameters, respectively. Then, confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box.

DD Frequency

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD frequency.

Measures made by the test:
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Zone state

Indicates the state of the target DNS zone.

 

The values that this measure can report and their corresponding numeric values are discussed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Available 1
Unknown 2
Degraded 3

Note:

By default, this measure reports the above-mentioned Measure Values while indicating the state of the target DNS zone. However, in the graph of this measure, states will be represented using the corresponding numeric equivalents only - i.e., 1 to 3.

The detailed diagnosis of this measure will appear only when the state of this measure is 'Degraded'. In that case, use the detailed diagnosis to find out the name of the DNS zone, type, TTL, and the value of the DNS zone that is in degraded state.

Zone type

Indicates the type of DNS zone.

 

DNS supports different types of zones, including:

  • Public DNS Zones: For domains accessible over the internet.

  • Private DNS Zones: For domains accessible only within a virtual network.

The values that this measure can report and their corresponding numeric values are discussed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Private 1
Public 2

Note:

By default, this measure reports the above-mentioned Measure Values while indicating the zone type of the target DNS zone. However, in the graph of this measure, states will be represented using the corresponding numeric equivalents only - i.e., 1 or 2.

The detailed diagnosis of this measures indicate the tags and resource group of the target DNS zone.

DNS query volume

Indicates the number of DNS queries received by Azure DNS for the DNS zone.

Number

When this value of this measure is abnormally high, the server may take longer to respond to queries due to the higher load, resulting in increased response times for users.

Max record sets

Indicates the maximum number of record sets a DNS zone can handle/store/process.

Number

A record set refers to a collection of DNS records that share the same name and type within a DNS zone.

A record set contains one or more records of the same type (such as A, CNAME, MX, TXT, etc.), and it can have multiple values, depending on the DNS record type. Each record set has a TTL (Time To Live) value, which defines how long DNS resolvers should cache the information before querying Azure DNS again.

By grouping multiple records under a single record set, you can easily manage and update the DNS configurations for a domain.

Name servers

Indicates the number of name servers handled by the DNS zone.

Number

A name server is a critical component in the Domain Name System (DNS), which is responsible for translating human-readable domain names into IP addresses that computers use to identify each other on the network.

Use the detailed diagnosis to list the names of name servers.

Record sets count

Indicates the number of record sets that were grouped together in the target DNS zone.

Number

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to find the name, type, TTL, and value of the records that have been grouped together.

Record set capacity utilization

Indicates the percentage of storage used to store or process the record set in the target DNS zone.

Percent

A value close to 100% indicates a cause of concern. Administrator must consider adding extra storage for smooth functioning.