March 11, 2022 (Fri) | By
Liche Chishaka | In
DNS Hosting
What is a DNS A record?
The "A" stands for "address" and this is the most fundamental type of DNS record: it indicates the IP address of a given domain. For example, if you pull the DNS records of cloudflare.com, the A record currently returns an IP address of: 104.17.210.9.
A records only hold IPv4 addresses. If a website has an IPv6 address, it will instead use an "AAAA" record.
When are DNS A records used?
The most common usage of A records is IP address lookups: matching a domain name (like "cloudflare.com") to an IPv4 address. This enables a user's device to connect with and load a website, without the user memorizing and typing in the actual IP address. The user's web browser automatically carries this out by sending a query to a DNS resolver.
DNS A records are also used for operating a Domain Name System-based Blackhole List (DNSBL). DNSBLs can help mail servers identify and block email messages from known spammer domains.
If you want to learn more about DNS A records, you can see the original 1987 RFC where A records and several other DNS record types are defined here. To learn more about how the Domain Name System works, see What is DNS?
What is a DNS A record?
The "A" stands for "address" and this is the most fundamental type of DNS record: it indicates the IP address of a given domain. For example, if you pull the DNS records of cloudflare.com, the A record currently returns an IP address of: 104.17.210.9.
A records only hold IPv4 addresses. If a website has an IPv6 address, it will instead use an "AAAA" record.
When are DNS A records used?
The most common usage of A records is IP address lookups: matching a domain name (like "cloudflare.com") to an IPv4 address. This enables a user's device to connect with and load a website, without the user memorizing and typing in the actual IP address. The user's web browser automatically carries this out by sending a query to a DNS resolver.
DNS A records are also used for operating a Domain Name System-based Blackhole List (DNSBL). DNSBLs can help mail servers identify and block email messages from known spammer domains.
If you want to learn more about DNS A records, you can see the original 1987 RFC where A records and several other DNS record types are defined here. To learn more about how the Domain Name System works, see What is DNS?
