DNS Records

DNS records tell the DNS server which IP address each domain is associated with, and how to handle requests sent to each domain. When a website is accessed, a request is sent to the DNS server and then forwarded to the web server provided by a web hosting company, such as Internet Central, which contain the data on the site.

I will list the most common records we use and explain each one individually.

A Records

A Records are the most basic type of DNS record and are used to point a domain to an IP address. Assigning a value to an A record is as simple as providing your DNS management panel with an IP address to where the domain should point.

CNAME

CNAME records are another commonly used type of DNS entry and are used to point a domain to another hostname. These are different to A Records, the value portion of the record is required to be an existing domain. As a host, we can use CNAMEs for customers as a means of being able to change the IP address of a server.

MX Record

Mail Exchange ’MX’ records are used to help route email according the domain owners preference. The MX record itself specifies which server or servers to attempt to use to deliver mail when this type of request is made to the domain. They differ from A Records and CNAMEs in the way that they also require a “priority” value as a part of their entry. The priority number is used to indicate which of the servers listed as MX records it should attempt to use first.

TXT Record

A TXT record is used to store any text-based information that can be grabbed when necessary. You commonly see TXT records used to hold SPF data and verify domain ownership.

NS Record

A Name Server record delegates a DNS zone to use the given authoritative name servers.

SOA Record

A ’Start Of zone of Authority’ specifies authoritative information about a DNS zone. This includes the primary name server

, the email of the domain administrator, the domain serial number and several timers related to refreshing the zone.

SRV Record

A Service Locator record is used for protocols instead of using protocol-specific records such as MX.