Running a Diagnosis

Running a check on a domain or IP address is very simple, you just need to enter in the item you wish to check and click "query".

The website will then automatically get the DNS information and the WHOIS information.

Running a Traceroute, Ping or Port Check

You can run a check against the domain or IP address you have queried. Traceroute/MTR will run a check to determine the path traffic will take to reach the destination. Ping will send an ICMP packet to determine if the destination is responding. Porch Check will check if a series of standard ports are reachable/active.

Click the button corresponding to the check you want to run, the check will then start.

The result will then show automatically in the same window

Interpreting the DNS Results

The DNS results can be complicated, however they have been broken down into different sections to make it easier to diagnose any faults.

• This area shows the item being queried
• The A records only shows the records for either "www" or "blank"
• MX Records shows all the current MX records
• NS Records shows the current NS records, these should not be confused with the name servers on the domain as shown in the WHOIS
• TXT Records shows any TXT records.
• Serial Records shows the SOA (State of Authority) record.

WHOIS Results

This shows any available WHOIS information for the domain or IP Address.

What is the "Serial Record"?

The serial record returned in the DNS results is taken from the SOA record and contains a string that usually represents the date. The format of the results are:

• 2014121404

The first 4 digits represent the year (2014), the next 2 the month (12), the next 2 the day (14) and the last 2 the interation (04). Which means the DNS was altered four times on the 14th December 2014.

This may not always be true as the serial can contain any 32 bit signed integer between 1 and 4294967295.