What do the individual types of DNS entries mean?

What do the individual types of DNS entries mean?

Different types of DNS entries are used to store different information about a domain. Here is a list of the most frequent types of DNS entries used:

A and AAAA – in them you enter the IP address of a domain or subdomain. Creating an entry of this type redirects the web domain to the specified IP address. At this address, there should be a web server hosting a website to be displayed at this domain or subdomain. The Aentries are used to define the IPv4 addresses (the old type), while the AAAA entries define IPv6 addresses. If you don't know, which of these two types of entries you should use, select A.

MX – indicates a name of the server handling the webmail in the domain. You can define several different servers by specifying a priority for each of them. A webmail software will try to deliver mail to the lowest-priority server and if this fails, then to subsequent servers. However, typically, a single mail server is defined for a domain.

CNAME – used to indicate a name of another domain or subdomain to be used as a source of DNS entries for this domain. Setting this entry will cause the entire DNS entry setup of this domain to be copied from the target domain in real time. Such entry may be useful if, for instance, you want many domains to have the same list of DNS entries.

TXT – used to store various types of additional information about a domain. Originally, it was intended to store text descriptions (hence the name), currently, it serves as a place to define additional information for services related to the domain (for example, the SPF information used to authenticate e-mails sent from the domain). Many services that require domain ownership authentication, also require making an appropriate TXT entry to confirm that you are the domain holder.

NS – used to indicate DNS servers responsible for operating the subdomain. Thanks to these entries, you can direct the subdomain in your domain to DNS servers other than those operating the master domain.

SRV – stores information about additional services related to the domain (e.g. VoIP telephony).

CAA – stores information about companies that can issue SSL certificates for this domain. Entering a value in this DNS entry can prevent unauthorized persons from issuing certificates and spoofing your domain.

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