What is DNS?
Like a letter in the post office, an address or coordinates are needed to locate a website in the internet world. The domain name system, or DNS, works like the internet’s version of a postmaster. In this article, we’ll look at the different parts of DNS and what each type of record does.
If you want a single guide with articles to help you manage DNS records in your hosting account, check out this resource:How to Change DNS Records
Name Servers
Name Servers, or NS records, are the main part of DNS that connect a domain name to its IP address. Without name servers, people would have to use IP addresses to visit websites instead of easy-to-remember domain names.
For example, the IP address:
http://50.116.120.13
Resolves to the domain:
https://support.hostgator.com
For more information on Name Servers and how to edit them, please refer to the following articles:
A Records
Address records, or A records, work alongside name servers. They connect a domain to an IP address on a server, so the domain leads to the correct location online.
For information on how to change your A records and other DNS records, please refer to the following articles:
CNAME Records
CNAME records, or Canonical Name records, let you use one domain name as an alias for another. They are most useful when you want to point a domain with a subfolder to a subdomain within the same main domain.
A prime example of how this works is by using the URL:
http://hostgator.com/support
When the site resolves, you will see that it is the same as the domain:
https://support.hostgator.com
For information on how to change your CNAME records, please refer to the following articles:
MX Records
Mail Exchange (MX) records are the primary way email is routed for a domain name. They work together with A records and NS records to send email to the right mail server. When there are several mail servers, MX records use priority numbers to show which server should be used first.
For information on how to change your A records and other DNS records, please refer to the following articles:
PTR Records
Reverse DNS records, also called PTR records, help match IP addresses to domain names and vice versa. For example, you can set hostgator.com to point to 10.0.0.1, and then create a PTR record so that checking 10.0.0.1 shows it belongs to hostgator.com. This setup lets email receivers check for fake emails, which are often marked as spam. Without a PTR record, the receiver has to guess whether your email is spam.
For more information on PTR records, please read:
TXT Records
TXT records, or text records, are custom entries that hold human-readable information. They are flexible and are often used for tasks such as verifying domain ownership with services like Google Workspace.
SRV Records
SRV records, or service records, let you point one domain to another using a specific port. This helps direct certain services, such as VoIP or instant messaging, to the right place.
AAAA Records
An AAAA record connects a domain or subdomain to an IPv6 address, similar to how an A record connects to an IPv4 address. At this time, HostGator does not support IPv6 addresses.