DNS Records: A Cheat Sheet on Your Domain
Our next blog in our “What is” series is all about “What is a DNS record?”
Basics
A DNS record is where DNS servers create a record that provides important information about a domain, specifically the current IP address.
In fact, we built a DNS Records Cheat Sheet so you can easily understand what each DNS Record does and why they are important. The most common DNS Records are the following:
| Record Type | Description |
| A Record | An A record is the actual record. The name is resolved to the corresponding IP address. This maps your hostname to an IPv4 address. An example of this is: http://www.no-ip.com resolves to 204.16.252.112 |
| AAAA Record | Similar to an A Record, but this allows you to point to an IPv6 address |
| NS Record (Name Server) | An NS record or (name server record) tells recursive name servers which name servers are authoritative for a zone. Recursive name servers look at the NS records to work out who to ask next when resolving a name. |
| CNAME Record (Canonical Name) | CNAME records (short for Canonical Name) map your hostname to another hostname. It is useful for pointing many hosts to the same place and updating them easily. The target host is a hostname that the host you are creating resolves to. This host must be an actual hostname that resolves to an IP address. An example of this is: http://www.no-ip.com to http://www.noip.com |
| MX Record (Mail Exchange) | MX Records are required so that other mail servers know where to send incoming emails. In other words, it directs email to a mail server. |
| TXT Record (Text) | Text records are used to describe a host or a DNS entry. You can enter anything you want as long as it is 255 characters or less. This feature is only available on Enhanced, Plus, or Pro DNS. Many common record types are added as a TXT record. For instance, SPF records are added as TXT records. You can see TXT records on your, or any domain by using using the dig tool In Terminal or Command Prompt. |
| SRV Record (Service Record) | An SRV record describes services offered by a host. It defines the location of a server (port number and hostname). They are commonly used in SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol protocols. |
| SOA Record (Start of Authority) | The SOA resource record is an essential part of the DNS zone file, it indicates the basic properties of the domain name server and the zone that the domain is in. Each zone file can contain only one SOA record. At No-IP, we build this record automatically by pulling from email, TTLs (Time to Live), and NS (Name Server) settings. |
| PTR (Pointer Record) | Provides the domain name associated with an IP address. This record is the exact opposite of an A Record. |
| CAA Record (Certification Authority Authorization) | The SOA resource record is an essential part of the DNS zone file. It indicates the basic properties of the domain name server and the zone in which the domain is located. Each zone file can contain only one SOA record. At No-IP, we build this record automatically by pulling from email, TTLs (Time to Live), and NS (Name Server) settings. |
| Round Robin | This maps your hostname to multiple IP address. Only used for DNS based load balancing (not common). |
How Do They Work?
DNS Records do many different things. They all work together to tell the Recursive DNS Server particular details and information about a domain, including the IP address of where it lives, email server information, redirects, and much more.
No-IP Solutions
DNS (Domain Name System) records can be quite confusing. They all do their own things and are helpful in so many ways.
Take a look at a few of the articles we have in our Knowledge Base library for the different DNS record types No-IP supports, as well as what they do:
- DNS Record Types
- DNS Records Cheat Sheet
- How to Use a TXT Record for SSL Verification
- How to Add an MX Record
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