A record is a line in the zone data that maps an FQDN to an IP address.
- Also known as forward lookup zone records.
A #
A Record
- Points the primary domain (FQDN) and any subdomains to a specific IP address.
- Often this includes the ‘www’ subdomain.
SOA #
Start of Authority
- Every forward lookup zone requires a SOA record that defines the primary name server in charge of the forward lookup zone.
NS #
Name Server Record
- Primary and usually secondary name servers for the domain.
CNAME #
Canonical Name Record
- Acts like an alias. Basically points one FQDN to another FQDN.
AAAA #
AAAA Record
- Equivalent of an ‘A’ record but reserved for IPv6 addresses.
MX #
MX Record
- Used exclusively by SMTP servers to determine where to send mail.
SRV #
SRV Record
- Supports any type of server
- Syntax:
_service.proto.name. TTL IN SRV priority weight port target- service Name of the service supported by this record
- proto TCP or UDP
- name The domain name for this server (ends with a period)
- TTL Time to live in seconds
- priority The priority of the target host; used when multiple servers present.
- weight An arbitrary value to give certain services priority over others
- port The TCP or UDP port on which the service is found
- target The FQDN of the machine providing the service, ending in a dot
- Example:
_sip.tcp.testserve.com. 86400 IN SRV 0 5 5060 sipserver.mikemeyers.com.
TXT #
TXT Record
- Freeform type of record that can be used for anything
- Often SPF / DMARC / DKIM records are of this type
- Also, DCV records can also be of this type
PTR #
Pointer Record
- Reverses the network ID and add a unique domain called “in-addr.arpa” to create the zone. This points to a FQDN and allows for reverse lookups by IP address.