Azure Name Resolutions Test

Azure Name Resolution typically refers to the process of resolving domain names to IP addresses within Microsoft Azure environments. Azure uses DNS as its domain controller location mechanism and leverages the namespace design of DNS in the design of Azure domain names. As a result, DNS is positioned within the discoverability and logical structure components of Azure technology components. If a user complaints of being unable to access an Azure domain, then administrators should first check whether the DNS component of Azure is available and is able to resolve the IP address of the domain to its corresponding domain name and vice-versa. This is where, the Name Resolutions test will be useful!

This test emulates a client accessing DNS to issue a query. The query can either request DNS to resolve a domain name to an IP address or vice versa. Based on the response reported by the server, measurements are made of the availability and responsiveness of the DNS component of the Azure server.

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.
Targets	The IP address or host name to be resolved during the test. Multiple targets can be specified as a comma-separated list.
Recursive	DNS supports two types of queries. For a non-recursive query, DNS attempts to respond to the request based on its local cache only. For a recursive query, a DNS server may use other DNS servers to respond to a request. The Recursive flag can be used to determine the type of queries to be issued to DNS.
DNS Port	Specify the port at which the DNS server listens.

Measures made by the test:

Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
DNS availability	Indicates the availability of the target DNS zone in percentage.	Percent	An availability problem can be caused by different factors – e.g., the server process may not be up, a network problem may exist, or there could be a configuration problem with DNS.
DNS response time	Indicates the time taken (in seconds) by the DNS zone to respond to a request.	Secs	An increase in response time can be caused by several factors such as a server bottleneck, a configuration problem with DNS, a network problem, etc.