On its website, DENIC makes available a specific interface which provides any user access to a tool for independently checking domain delegations in the way they are automatically verified by default by the DENIC registration system. This tool facilitates the delegation of second level domains under the German TLD .de. Moreover, it helps to avoid errors during the initial setup which may result in failures in case of domain deletions or even disturbances of entire network sections. The so-called Nameserver Predelegation Check is freely accessible to the public at http://www.denic.de/en/background/nast.html.

At the end of August, DENIC's web surface for name server checks was extended by DNSSEC-specific checks. Users can deliberately activate this additional tool to test the technical parameters of DNSKEY records and to verify if the related signatures can be applied for validation. The checks have been active in the production environment for quite some time already. They are described in detail in the documentation DENIC-23p, which also lists the system requirements. You will find the documentation under the aforementioned URL.

DNSSEC-specific tests can be executed with both domains already participating in the running testbed for .de and domains waiting to be registered in the testbed.

To enable users to carry out the relevant checks in their local systems, DENIC also provides an open source version of the related Name Server Test software (NAST) for download at the same URL. The software supplies detailed debugging information for individual search runs, if required.