Dns-Record-Types

DNS Record Types

DNS (Domain Name System) record types are used to store different types of information about a domain name in the DNS database.

Most common types of DNS Records

Type	Description
A	The record that holds the IP address of a domain.
AAAA	The record that contains the IPv6 address for a domain (as opposed to A records, which list the IPv4 address).
CNAME	Forwards one domain or subdomain to another domain, does NOT provide an IP address.
MX	Directs mail to an email server.
TXT	Lets an admin store text notes in the record. These records are often used for email security.
NS	Stores the name server for a DNS entry.
SOA	Stores admin information about a domain.
SRV	Specifies a port for specific services.
PTR	Provides a domain name in reverse-lookups.

Less commonly used DNS Records

Type	Description
APL	The ‘address prefix list’ is an experiment record that specifies lists of address ranges.
AFSDB	This record is used for clients of the Andrew File System (AFS) developed by Carnegie Melon. The AFSDB record functions to find other AFS cells.
CAA	This is the ‘certification authority authorization’ record, it allows domain owners state which certificate authorities can issue certificates for that domain. If no CAA record exists, then anyone can issue a certificate for the domain. These records are also inherited by subdomains.
DNSKEY	The ‘DNS Key Record’ contains a public key used to verify Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC) signatures.
CDNSKEY	This is a child copy of the DNSKEY record, meant to be transferred to a parent.
CERT	The ‘certificate record’ stores public key certificates.
DCHID	The ‘DHCP Identifier’ stores info for the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), a standardized network protocol used on IP networks.
DNAME	The ‘delegation name’ record creates a domain alias, just like CNAME, but this alias will redirect all subdomains as well. For instance if the owner of ‘example.com’ bought the domain ‘website.net’ and gave it a DNAME record that points to ‘example.com’, then that pointer would also extend to ‘blog.website.net’ and any other subdomains.
HIP	This record uses ‘Host identity protocol’, a way to separate the roles of an IP address; this record is used most often in mobile computing.
IPSECKEY	The ‘IPSEC key’ record works with the Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC), an end-to-end security protocol framework and part of the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP).
LOC	The ‘location’ record contains geographical information for a domain in the form of longitude and latitude coordinates.
NAPTR	The ‘name authority pointer’ record can be combined with an SRV record to dynamically create URI’s to point to based on a regular expression.
NSEC	The ‘next secure record’ is part of DNSSEC, and it’s used to prove that a requested DNS resource record does not exist.
RRSIG	The ‘resource record signature’ is a record to store digital signatures used to authenticate records in accordance with DNSSEC.
RP	This is the ‘responsible person’ record and it stores the email address of the person responsible for the domain.
SSHFP	This record stores the ‘SSH public key fingerprints’; SSH stands for Secure Shell and it’s a cryptographic networking protocol for secure communication over an unsecure network.