Defaults.Exposed › Methodology › v7 registry › SOA configuration
SOA configuration
Methodology v7 · canonical ID soa-configuration · DNS Security · scored · census as of July 28, 2026
A correctly configured DNS "start of authority" record.
Definition
| Canonical ID | soa-configuration |
|---|---|
| Category | DNS Security |
| Grade impact | Scored — counts toward the grade |
| Pass | The zone’s SOA record exists with sane timing values (refresh/retry/expire/minimum). |
| Fail | The SOA record is missing or misconfigured. |
| Example (passing) | example.com. IN SOA ns1.example.com. hostmaster.example.com. ( … ) |
No-data rule: when this check couldn't be determined for a domain (timeout, SERVFAIL, redacted
source) it returns N/A and is excluded from that domain's scoring denominator — "couldn't determine"
is never counted as a failure. "Determined absent" is a real fail.
Prevalence across the census
The public census rollup does not publish a per-check figure for soa-configuration (as of July 28, 2026).
Whole-census aggregates live at /data; no number is shown here rather than an estimated one.
Census denominator: 275,666,275 graded domains. Aggregates only — never an individual domain's result.
Fix it
Plain-English impact, cost of ignoring it, and step-by-step remediation: defaults.exposed/en/fix/nameservers
Cite this check
Defaults.Exposed, "SOA configuration (soa-configuration)", Grading Methodology v7 (census as of July 28, 2026). https://defaults.exposed/methodology/v7/soa-configuration
Permalink: https://defaults.exposed/methodology/v7/soa-configuration ·
All 34 checks: v7 registry ·
Machine-readable: checks.json ·
Licence: open data