A specific DNS record type that holds crucial administrative information about a DNS zone. SOA records play a critical role in maintaining the accuracy and consistency of the Domain Name System. They are indispensable for zone transfers, the process by which secondary nameservers update their copies of zone data from the primary nameserver.
SOA Record Information
- Primary nameserver: The authoritative nameserver for the zone.
- Responsible person’s email: The zone administrator’s email address (formatted with a dot instead of @) for troubleshooting and issue resolution.
- Serial number: A version number for the zone data, incremented with each change. The serial number within the SOA record acts as a version control mechanism, signaling to secondary nameservers when they need to refresh their information.
- Refresh interval: How often should secondary nameservers check for updates?
- Retry interval: How long to wait before retrying a failed zone transfer.
- Expire time: How long to consider zone data valid if updates fail.
- Negative caching TTL: How long to cache negative responses (e.g., record not found) impacting the caching behavior of resolvers and other nameservers, determining how long they retain information about the zone before requesting an update.
The SOA record is a fundamental part of DNS, providing essential administrative and control information for each zone.
Related Martech Zone Content
Additional Acronyms for SOA
- SOA - Service-Oriented Architecture