What is a DNS record and its types?

DNS records are databases that map URLs to IP addresses in a human-friendly manner,

This article will discuss the overview of DNS records and their types.

What is a DNS record?

A DNS record (aka zone file) combines instructions and data stored in authoritative DNS servers. It allows them to provide information about a domain, such as what IP addresses are associated with it and how to handle DNS requests. A DNS record consists of a series of text files that are written using a syntax known as DNS syntax.

DNS syntax is a series of characters that tells the DNS server how to act. A DNS record called a TTL, or time-to-live indicates how often a DNS server refreshes that record.

1. A Record

An A record points a domain or subdomain to a specific IP address. This can be used for store.market.com or blog.market.com, meaning the market where you have your business. The practice is common among people who purchase from Best Buy, Amazon, etc.

A Record points a logical domain name, such as “google.com,” to an IP address, 10.11.12.1, of Google’s hosting server.

2. CNAME

You can update your A Record of one domain or subdomain every time, no matter how many Host Records need to point to that IP address, with a CNAME (Canonical Name) technique. These records suggest www.test.com to test.com, imap.test.com to mail.test.com, and docs.test.com to ghs.google.com. The first record resolves the domain to the www subdomain or the same server. You can use the second record to host and deliver emails from an alternative subdomain. You can access G Suite’s document management system via docs.test.com with the third record. Adding this type of record to Google requires additional configuration.

3. MX Entry

In MX entries (Mail Exchangers), email is directed to specific servers. In the same way, MX Entries must be pointing to a domain, not an IP address.

4. TXT Records

Initially, a TXT (Text) record was intended to contain human-readable text. These dynamic records can serve several purposes. Google Verification frequently uses TXT records. In TXT records, there is a value to point to, but they aren’t used to direct any traffic. Instead, they provide needed information to outside sources.

5. SRV record

Using an SRV (Service) record, one domain points to another using a specific destination port. An SRV record can also direct particular services, such as VoIP or Instant Messaging, to different locations.

6. AAAA Record

An IPv6 address can be pointed at a domain using the AAAA record, just as the A record does.

DNS Glossary:

Zone File – The DNS records for a domain are stored here.

Host Record – You can use this domain or subdomain. Root domains are indicated by the @ symbol. ‘ftp’ represents the subdomain ftp.google.com, and ‘@’ represents google.com.

Points to – Using this, a domain or subdomain can send traffic to a destination server.

TTL – Your Internet provider’s DNS Server caches a record, the ‘time to live’ value for a given time. Fourteen thousand four hundred seconds (4 hours) is the default (and lowest accepted) value. Usually, this value does not need to be modified.

Action – Using this feature, you can modify or delete existing records.

Weight –  Multiple records are used in this order, which works similarly to priority. A form is grouped with other documents that have the same Priority value. The lower number preceding, the higher one is carried over from MX Entries.

Port – This allows the server or computer to make sure that all traffic flows through the right door and arrives where it’s expected to.

Target – Using this record, traffic is sent to the specified destination.

That’s it!

Our goal in writing this article is to give you an overview of DNS records and types, and we hope this article has given you a better understanding.

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