What is DNS?
DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet’s address book. It translates human-friendly domain names like example.com into the IP addresses computers use to reach each other. Without DNS you would have to memorize numbers instead of names.
DNS uses different record types — A and AAAA for IP addresses, MX for mail, TXT for verification, CNAME for aliases — and results are cached based on a TTL.
Key points
- Translates domain names into IP addresses.
- Record types: A/AAAA (IP), MX (mail), TXT, CNAME, NS.
- Results are cached according to each record’s TTL.
- Changes take time to propagate as caches expire.
Example
example.com → A 93.184.216.34
Common uses
- Pointing a domain to a server
- Routing email with MX records
- Domain verification via TXT records
- Aliasing subdomains with CNAME
Work with DNS directly in your browser.
Open the DNS Checker