DNS Record Type Reference
| Type | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A | Maps a hostname to an IPv4 address. | 192.0.2.10 |
| AAAA | Maps a hostname to an IPv6 address. | 2001:db8::1 |
| CNAME | An alias — points one hostname at another hostname's canonical name. | www.example.com. → example.com. |
| MX | Names the mail server(s) that accept email for a domain, each with a priority (lower is tried first). | 10 mail.example.com. |
| TXT | Arbitrary text attached to a domain — commonly used for SPF, DKIM and domain-ownership verification. | v=spf1 include:_spf.example.com ~all |
| NS | Names the authoritative name server(s) for a domain or subdomain. | ns1.example.com. |
| SOA | Start of Authority — zone-wide metadata: primary name server, admin contact and the refresh/retry/expire timers. | ns1.example.com. admin.example.com. 2024010100 3600 900 604800 86400 |
| PTR | Reverse DNS — maps an IP address back to a hostname, the opposite direction of an A/AAAA record. | 10.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa. → example.com. |
| SRV | Locates a service by protocol and port, with a priority and weight for load balancing between servers. | _sip._tcp.example.com. 10 60 5060 sipserver.example.com. |
| CAA | Certificate Authority Authorization — restricts which certificate authorities are allowed to issue TLS certificates for a domain. | 0 issue "letsencrypt.org" |
| NAPTR | Naming Authority Pointer — rewrites a name into another name or URI, used by protocols like ENUM and SIP. | 100 10 "u" "E2U+sip" "!^.*$!sip:info@example.com!" . |
How it works
This is a reference table, not a live DNS lookup — it does not query any name server. Type
a record type (e.g. MX) or part of its description (e.g. reverse)
to filter the table above; clear the box to see every record type again.