Case Study: Preventing a Major Email Outage Through Proactive DNS Recovery
Client: Confidential Medical Office
Industry: Healthcare
Location: Northern California
Challenge
A Northern California medical office hired a new web design vendor to rebuild and host their website. Since the website had been successfully migrated, the client assumed the previous web hosting service was no longer required and prepared to let that subscription expire.
What they did not realize was that the old hosting provider was still authoritative for their public DNS. This included their MX records, which direct the flow of email, as well as essential A, CNAME, and SPF entries.
If the subscription had lapsed, the DNS zone would have been deleted. This would have caused:
- Complete email failure
- Website inaccessibility
- Disruption to patient communication
- Internal operational downtime
Precision IT Consulting was copied on a vendor email and immediately recognized the risk.
Solution
Even though the client initially believed no action was needed, Precision IT reviewed the DNS configuration and confirmed that:
- The old provider still hosted the domain’s public DNS
- All DNS entries were tied to an account that was about to be shut down
- The zone needed to be recreated under the client’s registrar before cancellation
To prevent an outage, Precision IT:
- Accessed and documented all DNS records before the hosting account expired
- Reconstructed the DNS zone within the client’s domain registrar
- Verified DNS propagation across all services
- Confirmed email flow, website accessibility, and related services remained fully operational
Results
- Zero downtime for email or website access
- Successful DNS continuity after migrating all records to the correct authoritative source
- Elimination of the outage risk that would have impacted patient communication, scheduling, and billing
- Improved DNS governance, with all records now centralized under the client’s control
Outcome
Precision IT’s proactive intervention prevented what could have been a major service disruption for a busy medical office. By identifying the hidden dependency and correcting it before the hosting provider deleted the DNS zone, the client avoided a complete communication shutdown. They now have full visibility and ownership of their DNS, providing a stable and secure foundation for future vendor transitions.
