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DNS record type explainer

Nine DNS record types explained in plain words, each with a worked example — and, add a domain, the chosen type looked up live through two resolvers.

The explanation below works on its own; add a domain and this page also looks the chosen type up live through both resolvers.

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Result

Fill in the form and press Explain and look up. The verdict and the detail appear here.

What this is

Whatever brought you here — what is a txt record, an SOA record, or any of the other seven — this page answers all nine with a short definition, a worked example, where it gets used and the mistake people actually make with it, then looks the chosen type up live against a domain you type in, through two resolvers at once.

DNS has only nine record types in everyday use, out of the much longer list IANA’s own parameters registry tracks, and together they cover almost everything a person managing a domain ever has to read or publish: an address, an alias, a mail route, a delegation, a free-text slot, a zone’s own authority record, a certificate policy, and a protocol’s chosen host and port.

Picking a type from the list above swaps the whole explanation underneath it — the definition, the worked example and the mistake all belong to that one type alone, because none of the nine share a shape or a purpose with each other.

For the handful of types that come up whenever a domain is actually set up for mail or a website — TXT, MX, CNAME, CAA, NS and SOA — the guide "The DNS records a domain needs, and what each one actually does" on our blog walks through why each one exists and what breaks when it is missing, with the live checker for each type linked alongside it.

How to read the result

The explanation at the top is always there, for whichever type is selected, whether or not a domain has been typed in — that half needs no network and nothing can break it. Type a domain in and a second part appears beneath it: the very same type, looked up live through two public resolvers, with a table showing what each one actually returned.

A domain that does not exist at all is reported as a problem with the name itself, not with the record type; an existing domain with nothing published for the chosen type is reported as perfectly ordinary, since very few domains publish all nine at once.

Common mistakes

  • Taking a panel’s own name for a feature as a DNS typeALIAS, ANAME and a "URL redirect" record are conveniences a hosting panel built on top of real DNS types, not entries in the protocol itself — searching this page for one of those names will not find it, because it genuinely is not one of the nine.
  • Reading this glossary as a description of one particular control panelWhat a record type does over the wire, and what a specific provider’s form calls the field you type its value into, are two different things. This page describes the protocol; a provider’s own help pages are what describe its own interface.

Resell the domains these records point at, at your own price, under your own brand.

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Questions

What people ask about this tool.

What is a TXT record, and why would a domain need one?

It is a slot for free-form text that DNS itself does not interpret — what it means is entirely up to whatever program goes looking for it, most commonly a mail receiver checking SPF or a provider confirming you control the domain by matching a token it asked you to publish.

What is an SOA record, and does it matter if I am not running my own nameservers?

It is the record marking a zone’s own apex, carrying a serial number and four timers that a secondary nameserver reads to decide when to recheck for changes. Even on a managed DNS host, this record exists and those timers still govern how fast edits spread.

What does a CAA record actually do?

It names which certificate authorities are allowed to issue a certificate for a domain at all, and every public CA checks for one before issuing anything — a domain with none published has effectively told the world any CA may issue for it.

Why does my DNS host offer an ALIAS or ANAME record instead of CNAME at the root?

Because a real CNAME cannot sit at a zone’s own root alongside the NS and SOA records every zone needs there, providers built their own feature that behaves like one from outside while technically publishing an A or AAAA record underneath it.

Sources

Every fixed value this page gives you comes from the provider’s own documentation. These pages change, so each one says the day it was last read here.

API example

Example request
curl -X POST https://163-123-236-68.sslip.io/api/tools/dns-record-type-explainer \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type":"TXT","domain":""}'
Example response
{
  "tool": "dns-record-type-explainer",
  "input": {
    "type": "TXT",
    "domain": ""
  },
  "result": {
    "verdict": {
      "tone": "success",
      "headline": "What a TXT record is",
      "summary": "A TXT record, explained on its own — add a domain above for a live lookup of this exact type."
    },
    "findings": [
      {
        "id": "no-domain-given",
        "severity": "info",
        "title": "No domain entered yet",
        "detail": "No domain is needed to read the explanation above. Add one and this page also looks the TXT type up live, through both resolvers, in a table beside it."
      },
      {
        "id": "type-explained",
        "severity": "pass",
        "title": "What a TXT record is",
        "detail": "A TXT record holds free-form text that DNS itself does not interpret — RFC 1035 section 3.3 defines it as one or more character-strings concatenated together. What the text means is entirely down to whatever program goes looking for it."
      }
    ],
    "parts": [
      {
        "kind": "text",
        "title": "What it is",
        "body": "A TXT record holds free-form text that DNS itself does not interpret — RFC 1035 section 3.3 defines it as one or more character-strings concatenated together. What the text means is entirely down to whatever program goes looking for it."
      },
      {
        "kind": "record",
        "title": "A worked example",
        "value": "v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all",
        "at": {
          "name": "example.com",
          "type": "TXT"
        }
      },
      {
        "kind": "text",
        "title": "Where it is used",
        "body": "Domain ownership verification, SPF, and any other scheme that needed somewhere to publish a short machine-readable statement without inventing a brand-new record type for it."
      },
      {
        "kind": "text",
        "title": "The mistake people make",
        "body": "Treating a TXT value as a note nobody else reads closely. Mail servers, hosting panels and certificate issuers all look for an exact prefix, like v=spf1 or a provider’s own verification string, so one typo there reads as \"nothing published\" rather than as a typo."
      }
    ],
    "limits": [
      "A provider’s control panel can name a feature differently from the protocol — an ALIAS, ANAME or \"URL redirect\" record is a panel convenience, not one of the nine DNS types this page describes."
    ]
  }
}

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