Types of DNS Records (Know your DNS Records)
DNS(Domain Name System) is a database that provides important information about a domain/hostname. DNS records which are stored on the server help users connect with the outside world. DNS records provide all the information you need to know about a domain and how to handle requests from a domain.
There are different types of DNS records that can be added to your domain depending on what purpose you want them to serve. The most common record types are A (address), CNAME (canonical name), MX (mail exchange), NS (name server), and TXT (text record). These records can be created on our DNS servers.
Find a brief description of these records below:
NS(Nameserver)
A nameserver is a DNS server that stores all DNS records for a domain, including A records, MX records, or CNAME records.
NS records let you know where to go to find out a domain’s IP address. This record indicates which DNS server contains the actual DNS records and is authoritative for a domain. NS record ( Name Server Record ) is crucial to correct the functioning of domain names, these records are used to identify DNS server names and the availability of a domain name. You can control your domain name thanks to services provided by domain registrars(DNS management and WHOIS management).
A domain can have multiple NS records to increase reliability. It means that if one nameserver goes down, DNS queries go to the listed secondary DNS server. When NS records are updated, it may take several hours for the changes to be replicated throughout the DNS.
Ns1.gonlinesites.com
Ns2.gonlinesites.com
Ns3.gonlinesitescom
Ns4.gonlinesites.com
Without properly configured NS records, users will be unable to load a website or application. NS records are however limited as they only serve to define the domain nameservers inside a zone, they don’t include an IP address that will make sure that the resolution of a domain is successful. DNS records can be customized
G Online Sites allows clients to edit the NS records for their domain, it’s the most basic functionality of domain names.
A(Address)
The A record(address-record) is a record in your domain’s DNS zone file that makes the connection between the domain and its matching IP address. The A-record determines which IP address belongs to a domain name. For example, you can have the host record for yourwebsite.com pointed to 198.244.229.148
People know websites through their domain names. But computers know websites as IP addresses. The domain name system—DNS—turns those domain names into IP addresses. The IP address that you use does not have to be on your network.
Website owners now have access to control the DNS host for their domains with their hosting companies, they can set an A record to point their domains and hostnames to any IP address of their choice.
To lookup the A record of a domain, you can use the DNS lookup online tool(https://www.whatsmydns.net/) or the “dig” command on a Unix machine.
At G Online Sites, we offer you the option to modify the A record, along with other DNS records, via a web interface called Zone editor.
MX (Mail)
MX can be a hostname or the name of a mail server (for example, mail.gonlinesites.com) that tells the sending server(SMTP) where to deliver an email. It specifies a mail server to handle a domain’s email, these records are added to the DNS of a domain for incoming and outgoing emails.MX record directs email to a mail server, it indicates how emails should be routed.
Emails are routed through to the IP address which is set in the A-record of the host. MX lookup tool checks the MX records for a domain name, to lookup the MX record of a domain, you can use an online tool(http://mxtoolbox.com/) or by using nslookup on a Unix machine.
A typical MX record would look something like this:
Name TTL Type Record
gonlinesites.com 7200 MX Priority: 0 Destination: gonlinesites.com
All emails sent to test@gonlinesites.com will be sent to the mail server mail.gonlinesites.com with the IP address 172.67.73.60 (In instance of different servers we have)
G Online Sites gives you the opportunity to control your domains’ records through a fully packed DNS Management interface.
CNAME(Canonical Name Records)
CNAME is used to associate a hostname with another host or domain. The host that you wish to point to does not have to be on your network.
CNAMEs are important when you have renamed a host, you wish to refer a subdomain to a different server or you just want to point multiple domain names to the same IP addresses.
TXT(Text)
TXT records are records added to the domain that contains text information for sources outside of a domain. TXT record is a key component of several different email authentication that helps an email server determine if a message is from a trusted source. It provides the ability to associate some text with a host or other name. TXT records can be added to a fully qualified domain name, one domain can have many TXT records.
Usually, TXT record is used for SPF (Sender Policy Framework) email spam prevention, DKIM (DomainKeys Identified E-mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) domain ownership verification purposes. TXT records were originally developed to contain human-readable information about a domain or server, now it also contains machine-readable information.
DMARC(Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance)
DMARC uses DNS to publish information on how an email from a domain should be handled either to quarantine or reject the email. Because it uses DNS, nearly all email systems can decipher how email supposedly sent from your domain should be processed.
DMARC is a must for every domain owner, it is used to protect your domains against abuse in phishing or spoofing attacks. When a domain owner publishes a DMARC record into their DNS record, it helps to gain insight into who is sending emails on behalf of their domain. This information can be used to get detailed information about the email channel and get control over the email sent on his behalf.
AAAA (quad A Record)
An AAAA Record is another type of DNS Record that points a domain or subdomain to an IPv6 address, it matches a domain/subdomain with an IPv6 address, similar to A records, which do the same for IPv4 addresses.
CAA Record
Certification Authority Authorization (CAA) is a DNS record, which allows a domain name holder to specify the preferred Certification Authorities (CAs) to issue SSL certificates for a domain. It provides additional confirmation for the Certification Authority (CA) when validating an SSL certificate.
Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) is a way to restrict issuance to the CAs you use so you can reduce your risk from security vulnerabilities. Setting up CAA is an easy way to improve your website’s security.
SRV(Service record)
SRV is used to specify the location hostname and port number of a specific service and how your domain handles that service in the Domain Name System. It is used to establish a connection between a service and a hostname.
It defines a host of your domain for which a certain service is supported. It is frequently used when configuring some other third-party service.
ALIAS (ANAME record)
It is a record type that is used to point one domain name to a hostname instead of an IP address, it can be used in place of CNAME
