Records

What is a DNS Record?

DNS records are resource records that tell a DNS server which IP address each domain is associated with, as well as how to handle requests sent to the domain. When someone visits a website, a request is sent to the DNS server and then forwarded to the web server provided by a web hosting company, which provides the data contained on the website.

A short string, such as “A,” “CNAME,” or “TXT,” denotes the type of commands that dictate the actions of the DNS server, and these strings of commands are called DNS syntax. The following table lists all of the available records on the Managed Services Portal.

Record Types and Descriptions

Record Type	Type ID	Description
A (IPv4)	1	The Address (A) record is the most basic type of syntax used in DNS records, indicating the actual IP address of the domain. Regular DNS addresses are mapped for 32-bit IPv4 addresses.
AAAA (IPv6)	28	The AAAA (quad A) record is also an address record that indicates the actual IP address of the domain. It allows for mapping 128-bit IPv6 addresses.
Apex Alias		The Apex Alias (Alias) record basically prevents your users from having to enter the “www” at the beginning of a URL. Apex Alias allows you to replace an A record with a CNAME record that resolves to another host name. The Apex Alias functionality supports both IPv4 and IPv6 resolution, returning A and AAAA records as appropriate. The “Host Alias” alternative allows you to add an alias to the non-apex records within a zone.
CAA (Certification Authority Authorization)	257	The Certification Authority Authorization (CAA) record allows domain owners to declare which certificate authorities can issue a certificate for a domain. This record also provides a means for indicating notification rules in case someone requests a certificate from certificate authority that is not authorized.
CNAME	5	The Canonical Name (CNAME) record makes one domain an alias of another domain. The CNAME record is often used to associate new subdomains with the DNS records of an existing domain.
Delegation Signer	43	The DNS Delegation Signer (DS) record indicates that the delegated zone is digitally signed and contains the hash of the DNSSEC Key Signing Key (KSK).
HINFO (Host Info)	13	The Host Information (HINFO) record identifies the hardware and operating system of a host.
HTTPS	65	The HTTPS record is a variation of the Service Binding (SVCB) record and is designed to facilitate connections to services that use HTTPS by advertising HTTPS-specific details.
MX (Mail Exchange)	15	The Mail Exchange (MX) record contains a list of mail exchange servers that are to be used for the domain.
NAPTR (Naming Authority Pointer)	35	The Naming Authority Pointer (NAPTR) record is most commonly used for applications in Internet telephony, for example, in the mapping of servers and user addresses in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The combination of NAPTR records with Service Records (SRV) allows the chaining of multiple records to form complex rewrite rules which produce new domain labels or uniform resource identifiers (URIs).
NS (Name Server)	2	A Name Server (NS) record provides authoritative server information for a (sub) domain. Note: When you create or transfer a domain to UltraDNS, you will see two NS records created automatically: udns1.ultradns.net and udns2.ultradns.net. You cannot delete these system generated records. Unless you have a subdomain (for example, sterling.example.biz as a subdomain of example.biz), you should not add additional NS records without first consulting UltraDNS Support.
PTR (Pointer)	12	The Pointer record is used for the Reverse DNS lookup. By using an IP address, you can get the associated domain/hostname. An A record should exist for every PTR record. Note: You can automatically create PTR records when you create A records by selecting My Profile at the top right of the browser window, opening System Preferences, and selecting Enabled in the Automatically create PTR records list.
RP (Responsible Person)	17	The Responsible Person (RP) record identifies the contact information of the person (or group) responsible for a host or zone.
SPF (Sender Policy Framework)	99	The Sender Policy Framework record is a type of TXT record that identifies which mail servers are permitted to send email on behalf of your domain. The purpose of an SPF record is to detect and prevent spammers from sending messages with forged From addresses on your domain.
SRV (Service Locator)	33	A Service (SRV) record provides information (the location, i.e. hostname and port number) about available network services (for example, SIP and XMPP) based on a specific protocol and domain.
SVCB Service Binding	64	The Service Binding (SVCB) record type is used to provides alternative endpoints that are authoritative for the service, along with parameters associated with each of the endpoints.
SSH Fingerprint	44	The DNS Secure Shell Fingerprint (SSHFP) record provides a way to verify Secure Shell (SSH) host keys using Domain Name System Security (DNSSEC). The SSHFP record is used to provide out-of-band verification, which looks up the SSHP fingerprint of the server public key in DNS, and then uses DNSSEC to verify the lookup.
TLSA (TLS Association)	52	The Transport Layer Security Authentication (TLSA) record provides communication security across the internet, by using channel encryption. The TLSA record is used to associate a TLS server certificate or public key with the domain name where the record is found, thereby forming a “TLSA certificate association.”
TXT (Text)	16	The Text (TXT) record lets an administrator insert any text they would like into the DNS record, and it is often used for denoting facts about the domain.
Web Forwarding		A Web Forwarding record is used to redirect queries from a domain to another site. With web forwarding, you can register misspellings, alternate extensions (e.g., .biz, .net, etc.) and/or abbreviations, and then forward them to your primary website

Important Concepts and Definitions

Before you begin creating records, here are some common occurring field names and their descriptions that we recommend you familiarize yourself with.

Record Fields and Descriptions

Field Type / Name	Description
Host	The hostname for the record, entered as either a simple, one-part name, or as a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) with or without a trailing dot. Examples: hostname hostname.example.biz hostname.example.biz. example.biz example.biz.
FQDN	“Fully Qualified Domain Name.” When a field states it requires a FQDN, you must provide the domain name with dot separators. For example: hostname – This is not a FQDN. hostname.example.com – This constitutes a FQDN.
TTL	The Time to Live for a record. Provided as an integer value. This field is not required, and if left empty, will be set to the default value (which can be specified from the Properties tab of your account) of the record type.

Field Type / Name

Description

Host

The hostname for the record, entered as either a simple, one-part name, or as a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) with or without a trailing dot. Examples:

hostname
hostname.example.biz
hostname.example.biz.
example.biz
example.biz.

FQDN

“Fully Qualified Domain Name.” When a field states it requires a FQDN, you must provide the domain name with dot separators.

For example:

hostname – This is not a FQDN.
hostname.example.com – This constitutes a FQDN.

TTL

The Time to Live for a record. Provided as an integer value.

This field is not required, and if left empty, will be set to the default value (which can be specified from the Properties tab of your account) of the record type.