What are the different DNS records for?

The DNS records contain various lists for specific domain name settings. There are many different types of DNS records:

  • A Record – Address Record, assigns an IP address to a domain or subdomain name. A 32-bit IPv4 address, most commonly used to map hostnames to an IP address of the host
  • AAAA Record – IPv6 address record maps a hostname to a 128-bit IPv6 address. The AAAA record is to help transition and coexistence between IPv4 and IPv6 networks.
  • CNAME Record – A CNAME record or canonical name record makes one domain name an alias of another. The aliased domain gets all the subdomains and DNS records of the original.
  • MX Record – An MX record or mail exchange record maps a domain name to a list of mail servers for that domain. The MX record shows that all emails for a domain should be routed to the defined mail server.
  • NS Record – An NS record or name server record maps a domain name to a list of DNS servers authoritative for that domain.
  • SRV Record – Generalized service location record, used for newer protocols instead of creating protocol-specific records such as MX.
  • TXT Record – A TXT record allows an administrator to insert arbitrary text into a DNS record.