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Manage DNS records in the dashboard

A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV and CAA records, and what each one is for.

Updated 20 September 20261 min readIntermediate

When your domain uses our nameservers, the zone is edited under Domains → your domain → DNS. Changes are live on our edge within seconds; how quickly the world sees them depends on the TTL.

Record types

TypePoints toTypical use
AAn IPv4 addressThe root domain to your site
AAAAAn IPv6 addressSame, over IPv6
CNAMEAnother hostnamewww, and third-party services
MXA mail host, with priorityWhere mail for the domain is delivered
TXTFree textSPF, DKIM, DMARC and ownership verification
SRVA service, port and hostAutodiscover, SIP, some Microsoft services
CAAA certificate authorityRestricting who may issue certificates

Rules worth knowing

  • A CNAME cannot exist at the root of a domain alongside other records. Use an A record there.
  • Only one SPF record per domain. Several SPF records make all of them invalid; merge them into one.
  • Deleting a record you did not create can break verification for a service you forgot about. Check what a TXT record says before removing it.

TTL

The TTL tells resolvers how long to cache an answer. The default of 3600 seconds is right for day-to-day use. Before a planned change, lower the record to 300 seconds a day in advance, make the change, then raise it again.

terminal
dig example.com MX +short
dig _dmarc.example.com TXT +short
dig www.example.com CNAME +short
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