DNS Record Types
DNS record types define the data a DNS entry carries, such as an IP address, an alias, a mail server, or verification text.
- glossary
DNS record types define the kind of data stored in a DNS resource record. The type tells a resolver how to interpret the answer; one domain can have different records for its website, email, and other services. 1
Common DNS record types
| Type | What it contains | Typical role |
|---|---|---|
| A | An IPv4 address | Locate a host by address. |
| AAAA | An IPv6 address | Locate a host over IPv6. |
| CNAME | Another domain name | Make one name an alias of another. |
| MX | A mail-server name and preference | Identify where incoming email should go. |
| TXT | One or more text strings | Publish text consumed by verification and other protocols. |
A, CNAME, MX, and TXT are defined in RFC 1035. AAAA is defined in RFC 3596. 1 2
A custom-domain email setup uses these records together: MX directs incoming mail, while provider-supplied records support domain verification and sender authentication.
Reading an A record and a CNAME
An A record points to an IPv4 IP address; a CNAME points to another name whose records must then be resolved. A CNAME is a DNS alias, not a web-page redirect: it does not specify an HTTP redirect destination or a URL path. Choose the record your hosting provider asks for rather than treating these types as interchangeable. 1
The nameservers publish the records. Changing one type does not automatically update other services: changing a website’s A record does not, by itself, change its MX record. Cached answers can also persist during DNS propagation.
Sources and further reading
- 1. IETF — RFC 1035, standard record types and A records — fetched 2026-09-15.
- 2. IETF — RFC 3596, AAAA records — fetched 2026-09-15.
Related keywords
- A record vs CNAME
- AAAA record
- MX record
- TXT record
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Contributors
Namefi is a collective of engineers, designers, and operators who obsess over building tools that make managing your onchain domain names effortless.
Victor Zhou is a technology founder and standards editor focused on digital identity and trust. He founded Namefi, edits Ethereum Improvement Proposals, and previously led smart-contract architecture work at Google Labs.
His work sits at the intersection of naming, ownership, and the systems people use to establish identity online. That perspective makes him especially interested in the way names move between personal meaning, public recognition, and digital infrastructure.
For Namefi, Victor edits and writes about domains as durable digital identity: how names become ownable onchain assets, how tokenization changes custody and trust, and what naming can learn from the systems people use to establish identity online.