DNS Record Types Explained
Hey Everyone,
In the previous blog, I talked about what is DNS. If you haven’t checked it out yet, give it a read for a better understanding.
But in short DNS stands for Domain Name System which is like a phonebook of internet. That helps to find the IP for the website we entered.
Humans remember names → www.google.com
Computers use numbers → 42.20.10.14 (IP address)
When you entered some website like www.google.com on the browser. It doesn’t know the address of the website so it needs to ask. All the process of finding the address of website is handled by DNS.
What is DNS Records and why are they needed?
DNS needs to answer some questions like:
Where is the website hosted?
Who manages this domain?
Where should emails be delivered?
Is this domain verified for a service? etc….
And to answer those above questions DNS Records are required.
Each record solve one problem. lets start
NS Record
NS Stands for Name Server.
It is a type of DNS record which gives the information of the servers responsible for this domain’s DNS.
DNS is distributed, No single server knows everything. NS records tell the internet who owns the source of truth.
A Record
A stands for address
It provide answer to this question what is the IPV4 address off this domain?
That means it will return the IPV4 address of the website.
www.example.com -> 26.05.2.1
Your browser needs this record to connect to the server.
AAAA Record
AAAA is the IPv6 version of the A record.
As IPV4 addresses ran out of the internet that why IPV6 exists.
example.com → 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
A domain can have both A and AAAA record.
CNAME Record
CNAME stands for canonical name.
It is like a alias point this domain to another domain.
www.dev.example.com -> www.example.com
Many got confused with A and CNAME record why worry when i am here
A record will only return the IPV4 address
CNAME record points to another domain, it will never return an IP address
MX Record
MX stands for Mail Exchange.
This record answers to this question:
Where should email for this domain will be delivered?
example.com → mail.google.com
TXT Record
TXT record stores all the plain text information
They are commonly used for:
Domain Ownership Verification
Email Security
Third Party Service Validation
How all DNS records work together for one website
Let’s take a simple domain: example.com
Here’s how DNS records work together:
NS Record: It will tell where DNS data lives like on cloudflare, google.
A/AAAA Record: It will then tell where the website server is.
CNAME Record: It will only point to another domain if it was entered.
MX Record: It will tell where the mail for this domain will be delivered
TXT Record: It will tell information like domain owners , email security etc…
Clearing some common confusion
NS vs MX
NS → Who manages this domain?
MX→ where should the mail for this domain will be delivered?
A vs AAAA
A→ Will return IPV4 address
AAAA→ Will return IPV6 address
Domain can have both records.
DNS isn’t complicated.
It’s just organised.
And now, you know What are DNS Records and why are they needed.
If you have any doubt or want to connect feel free to drop a comment — I’d be happy to help.
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next blog!
Peace ✌️ and Happy Learning!
