Verifying Domains

You are permitted to create Healthchecks against servers on:

1. public domains (e.g. Google Cloud Run)
2. domains that you have verified that you own/control

Before using domains that you own/control, you will need to generate a verification code and then add a DNS record to your domain to verify ownership to Ackal:

DOMAIN="[YOUR DOMAIN]"

# Create the domain's record
ackalctl \
--domain_name=${DOMAIN} \
create domain
                

Either:

DOMAIN="[YOUR DOMAIN]"

# Get the domain's record
ackalctl \
--domain_name=${DOMAIN} \
get domain
                

NOTE The result includes a field verified that will be false until the domain has been verified.

Or:

DOMAIN="[YOUR DOMAIN]"

VERIFICATION=$(\
ackalctl \
--domain_name=${DOMAIN} \
--format=json \
get domain) && echo ${VERIFICATION}
                

And then ensure your DOMAIN DNS records include (replacing {VERIFICATION} with the value provided by ackalctl get domain):

Name	Type	Data
	TXT	"ackal-verification={VERIFICATION}"

NOTE The requirement for NAME varies by DNS provider. Some permit the NAME field to be left blank, others require e.g. @ as a placeholder. Please consult your documentation.

You may use Linux tools (e.g. dig or nslookup) or Google’s Admin Toolbox Dig to verify that the TXT record has been created correctly.

Once you’re confident the record has propagated, you can instruct Ackal to verify the domain:

DOMAIN="[YOUR DOMAIN]"

# Verify the domain's record
ackalctl \
--domain_name=${DOMAIN} \
verify domain
                

You can confirm that the domain has been verified successfully:

DOMAIN="[YOUR DOMAIN]"

# Get the domain's record
ackalctl \
--domain_name=${DOMAIN} \
get domain
                

NOTE The result includes a field verified that will be true if Ackal was able to verify the domain.