DNS Records Explained: A, CNAME, MX, TXT and More

DNS records are the instructions that tell the internet what to do with your domain — where to send web traffic, where to deliver email, and how to verify ownership for other services. Here’s what the common types actually do.

A record

Points a domain or subdomain directly to an IPv4 address. This is the record that makes yourdomain.com load your website’s server. An AAAA record does the same for IPv6.

CNAME record

Points a subdomain to another domain name instead of an IP address — e.g. pointing www.yourdomain.com to yourdomain.com, or shop.yourdomain.com to a third-party platform’s hostname. A CNAME can’t be used on the root/bare domain itself.

MX record

Mail Exchanger records tell the internet which mail server handles email for your domain, and in what priority order if you list more than one. Getting MX records wrong is the single most common cause of “my email isn’t arriving” issues.

TXT record

A free-text record used for verification and policy purposes rather than routing traffic. Common uses include domain ownership verification (for Google Workspace, SSL providers, etc.) and email authentication records — SPF and DMARC are both TXT records. See our SPF/DKIM/DMARC guide for the email-specific detail.

NS record

Specifies which nameservers are authoritative for a domain or a delegated subdomain — distinct from the nameservers set at your registrar, these are used when delegating a subdomain to a different DNS provider.

Other records worth knowing

• SRV — points to a specific service and port, used by some VoIP/chat platforms.
• CAA — restricts which certificate authorities are allowed to issue SSL certificates for your domain.

All of these are edited the same way — see our guide on editing DNS in cPanel’s Zone Editor for the practical steps.