How to Ignore DNS Record Alerts
Some records change often for good reasons — remaining TTL on public DNS, marketing tracking hosts, or a whole subtree that you already expect to flap. Ignore rules let you keep recording those changes while skipping the alert when they are the only thing that moved.
What an ignore rule does
An ignore rule is a name or pattern plus a record type on one zone. When a later check only includes changes that match those rules, ZoneWatcher still records the check and marks it as suppressed instead of sending notifications.
- History is kept: the check, the record diff, and the zone timeline stay available
- Alerts are skipped only when every change on that check is ignored
- Mixed checks still notify: if an ignored A record and an MX record both change, you still get the alert
- Past checks stay as they were: removing a rule does not rewrite earlier suppressed checks
Who can set this up
Team members who can update the zone can add and remove ignore rules. Client-role users can view checks but cannot create or delete ignore rules.
Ignore a record from a check
This is the fastest way to quiet a noisy change you just received:
- Open the check from the zone’s check history or from the notification
- On the Record Changes tab, find the record and click Ignore
- Confirm the name or pattern. The record type is taken from the change you selected
- Optionally widen the name to a pattern (for example change
host.prs.example.netto*.prs.example.net) - Click Ignore to save the rule
Future matching changes are still stored. The current check is not rewritten — suppression applies to later checks.
Add a rule from zone settings
Use zone settings when you already know the name and type, or when you want to ignore a whole subtree before the next noisy check:
- Open the zone and go to Settings
- In the Ignored records section, click Add ignore rule
- Enter a name or pattern and choose the record type
- Click Add ignore rule
The same section lists every rule on the zone. Click Remove to resume alerts for that name and type.
Exact names and wildcard patterns
Enter an exact fully-qualified name, or use * as a full label to match one or more labels. Names are stored in lowercase and a trailing dot is ignored.
| Rule | Matches | Does not match |
|---|---|---|
outreach.example.com + A
|
That exact A record |
outreach.example.com AAAA, or any other hostname
|
*.prs.example.net + AAAA
|
a.prs.example.net, a.b.prs.example.net
|
The apex prs.example.net, or the same names with a different type
|
A star must be a complete label. Patterns like *host.example.com are not valid.
How a suppressed check looks
When every change on a check matched an ignore rule, the check page shows a Notification suppressed banner: no alert was sent, and the change is still recorded. Individual matching records also show an Ignored badge.
Ignore rules vs monitored record types
Zone settings also let you uncheck Monitored Record Types. That silences an entire type for the zone (every A record, for example). Ignore rules are narrower: they target one name or pattern and one type, so you can keep alerting on other A records in the same zone.