DNS Record Type Reference

A

Maps a domain name to an IPv4 address (32-bit).

example.com. IN A 93.184.216.34

Point your domain to a web server IP address.

AAAA

Maps a domain name to an IPv6 address (128-bit).

example.com. IN AAAA 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946

Enable IPv6 connectivity for your domain.

CNAME

Creates an alias from one domain to another (canonical name).

www.example.com. IN CNAME example.com.

Redirect www to non-www or point subdomains to services like Vercel/Netlify.

MX

Specifies the mail server responsible for receiving email for a domain.

example.com. IN MX 10 mail.example.com.

Configure email delivery with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or a custom mail server.

TXT

Holds arbitrary text data, often used for domain verification and email authentication.

example.com. IN TXT "v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all"

Set up SPF, DKIM, DMARC for email security, or verify domain ownership with Google/Facebook.

NS

Delegates a DNS zone to authoritative name servers.

example.com. IN NS ns1.cloudflare.com.

Delegate your domain DNS to a provider like Cloudflare, AWS Route 53, or your registrar.

SOA

Start of Authority record containing administrative info about the DNS zone (serial, refresh, retry, expire, TTL).

example.com. IN SOA ns1.example.com. admin.example.com. 2024010101 3600 900 604800 86400

Automatically created for every DNS zone. Controls zone transfer timing and caching behavior.

PTR

Reverse DNS record mapping an IP address back to a hostname.

34.216.184.93.in-addr.arpa. IN PTR example.com.

Required for email servers to pass reverse DNS checks and reduce spam flagging.

SRV

Service locator record specifying host, port, priority, and weight for a service.

_sip._tcp.example.com. IN SRV 10 60 5060 sipserver.example.com.

Configure VoIP (SIP), XMPP chat, LDAP, or Microsoft Teams/Skype for Business.

CAA

Certificate Authority Authorization record specifying which CAs can issue SSL/TLS certificates for a domain.

example.com. IN CAA 0 issue "letsencrypt.org"

Restrict certificate issuance to specific CAs like Let's Encrypt or DigiCert for improved security.