Have you ever wondered what DNS records are and what they’re good for? In this article, we’ve outlined the purpose of all the different types that are available to you. We’ve also provided you with instructions on how to find them.
- Click on Manage from the Websites menu.
- Open the control panel and click on Network Connection:
- Under your domain, click the “vertical 3 dots” button. In the popout menu, select the DNS Settings link.
- To the right of your domain in List View, select “Vertical 3 dots.” The DNS Settings link can be found in the popout menu. The DNS entries for the domain will appear after that.
For more information on adding DNS, please see the Adding DNS article.
Please note that more information on DNS record types can be found in the Wikipedia article “List of DNS record types.”
There are a variety of records available. #
A #
This is one of the record types for setting up DNS (Domain Name System, for example, “Address” (A record) to direct a domain’s hostname to an IPv4 address.
- A record
AAAA #
Use this to forward the IPv6 address record to map the hostname to an IPv6 address
- AAAA record
- IPv6
ALIAS #
An ALIAS record can be added to the root domain and the DNS functionality is very similar to that of a CNAME. ALIAS records also work well with subdomains.
- ALIAS record
CAA #
A CAA record tells a certificate authority which domains they have permission to issue certificates for. This is the backbone of security when it comes to your website.
- CAA record
CNAME #
The reason behind the “canonical name record” or CNAME is to point a domain name to another domain name. This can provide users with an easier way to remember their email address because they type in [email protected]
- CNAME record
MX #
Domain Name Mail Exchange Records (MX records) show you the host where your domain is pointing for mail hosting.
- MX record
NAPTR #
Name Authority Pointers (NAPTR) are most often used for Domain Name System (DNS) records because they’re a type of resource record.
- NAPTR record
NS #
A name server identifies and manages the data that makes up a domain or subdomain.
- Nameservers
PTR #
Typically known as a “pointer record,” this is used for the reverse mapping of an IP address to a hostname.
To disable spam mail filters, please use the appropriate IP.
Feel free to explore the history of Unique IPs on our website.
- Unique IP
After this update has been made for 15 minutes, if the PTR record does not appear to be accurate,
SPF #
SPF records let you specify which spam-filtering organizations can send email on behalf of your domain.
- SPF record
SRV #
Putting a “Service locator” on your site will let people know what you offer.
- SRV record
TXT #
TXT records are free-form strings you can use for a variety of purposes. For example, they can be used for verification when signing up for Google and email services.
- TXT records
There is more information about IP addresses available in the article below:
- IP address
Additional details #
Here are some additional details discussing DNS records or terminology:
DNS A record lookup #
When you lookup the A record, you might see that there is an additional CNAME record in it:
- You can look up the information of that hostname. You will either see a CNAME record or an A record.
Fully qualified domain name #
An FQDN is a unique domain that is sure to not be confused with others. For example, if your site was example.com, you may have several possible FQDNs.
To learn more about this, please view the following article:
Zone file #
The mapping of your domain and subdomains to their respective IP addresses is included in a text record known as a zone file. You can get a thorough overview in the article that follows:
SOA record #
The Start of Authority record is the first information in a domain zone file. The SOA tells you what authoritative information about a specific domain there is:
- The name server in charge of the SOA record
- The Zone file is a common setting for email server administration and almost always includes the following admin email address
- Serial number for this domain. This is the Zone file’s current revision.
- Timers:
- Refresh time
- Retry time
- Expire time
- Minimum TTL
