Understanding DNS Host Types: A Domain Management Guide


A DNS record specifies the type of data stored in a DNS zone, such as IP addresses, domain aliases, or email servers. Each DNS record type has its own applications.

Wondering what different DNS Record types can do?  Find out below!

Table of Contents

 

DNS Hostname (A)

This record type is the default and the most commonly used. It simply points a hostname to an IPV4 address. This change has a TTL (Time To Live) of 60 seconds. This means it will take 60 seconds to be live.

AAAA (IPV6)

This record type is similar to an A record in that it points your hostname to an IP address, except in addition to pointing to an IPV4 it also points to an IPV6 address. TTL of 60 seconds

DNS Hostname (Round Robin)

This record type allows you to use a form of load-balancing. A Round Robin hostname will resolve to multiple servers or IP addresses, connections through your hostname will alternate between the IP addresses you’ve configured. With this feature you can point a hostname to 10 different IP addresses. If you’re configuring a round robin hostname with dynamic IP addresses you’ll have to use an individual instance of the DUC for each location. TTL of 60 seconds

Note: This does not support failover. If one of your servers or IP addresses aren’t working it will not skip over that IP address, it will still resolve some connections to that IP.  If you’re looking for failover support, please check out our Advanced Monitoring service.

DNS Alias (CNAME)

This record type will point your hostname to a specific target. This allows you to point example.no-ip.org to a different record such as cname.no-ip.org. Example.no-ip.org will then clone all records for cname.no-ip.org and example.no-ip.org will go to the same location as cname.no-ip.org. TTL of 60 seconds

Web Redirect and Port 80 Redirect

This service is designed to direct connections to your hostname to our redirect server. From there we redirect the connection to your desired target, this can be an IP or a URL. You can also append a port number to a web redirect, which can be used to connect to a server that is on a non-standard port without entering the port number manually every time. This is what we call a port 80 redirect, but it’s essentially the same thing as a web redirect. TTL of 300 seconds.

TXT

These are text based records. Other record types (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are technically also TXT records. These records are typically used for domain validation and email configuration. Mostly to validate your sent emails and reduce email spam for users that require that validation.

MX

Email Exchange or MX records dictate where mail is routed to. If you have any mail service through your domain, you will need to add one or more of these records. For example, if you’re using our PoP3/IMAP service, the MX record is mx.noip.com

SPF

Sender Policy Framework or SPF records, is one of various records used in preventing email spam. It lists servers that are permitted to send email for the domain they’re added to. For example, if you’re using one of No-IP’s mail services for sending you can add this SPF record “v=spf1 include:no-ip.com -all” that record lists our mail server on the domain so that other servers know that the email is legitimate.

DKIM

Domain Key Identified Mail or DKIM records, is similar to SPF records in it’s use to legitimize sent email, but it does so a little differently.  Instead of listing servers it uses a pair of keys, a public and private key.  Without going into too much detail, the recipient of an email can use the publicly available key to verify the sender’s private key. A DKIM also ensures that an email has not been altered in transit.

DMARC

Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance records or DMARC, is used by a receiving email server to dictate what the server does with mail that passes or fails an SPF or DKIM record check.  For example, it could tell an email server to send a message that fails a DKIM or SPF record check to spam, or to even send a report to another address about the failure.

SRV

Service or SRV records, specifies a specific port number and hostname to connect to. An SRV is required for the set up of some specific services or software to work properly.

CAA

Certificate Authority Authorization or CAA records, specify the Certificate Authorities that are allowed to issue an SSL for your domain. You may want to add one of these records if you’re worried about someone having an SSL issued for your domain through an unauthorized provider.

NS (Nameserver)

Nameserver records designates who the authoritative DNS provider is for your domain. For example, if you have your domain registered at another company but want No-IP to manage your DNS instead then you have to designate No-IP as your new DNS provider. This is done by adding No-IP’s nameservers to your domain.

No-IP’s nameservers are:

  • ns1.no-ip.com
  • ns2.no-ip.com
  • ns3.no-ip.com
  • ns4.no-ip.com

Note: A Nameserver change usually only takes a few hours but can take up to 48 hours to complete. Make sure you’re ready for the possibility of downtime before making this change.

PTR

A Pointer or PTR record is the opposite of an A record.  It assigns a domain to an IP address, the IP address must be static for this to work.  It’s most often used for anti-spam filters and system logging purposes. Typically, your internet service provider can create one of these for you at no cost. We can also create one for you but you would still need to contact your internet service provider to have them point the static IP address nameservers to our nameservers. Please contact No-IP support for more information on this option.