What are the different types of Records?
Template Name: This is the label that you choose to give your template. It can be anything from "Tony's Server" to "Fab01" and is used to identify that set of records.
Host (NAME): Is the name of the record itself, such as 'www', 'mail', '@', or '*'
| A |
A host record |
| CNAME |
An alias for an existing host |
| MX |
Domain Mail Exchanger |
| TEXT |
Text strings or SPF records |
| NS |
Name Server |
| PTR |
Pointers to other resources, such as in-addr.arpa domains |
Minor constraints exist with A and CNAME types, namely:
- an 'A' record destination must be a host IP address
- a 'CNAME' record destination must be a named alias or fully qualified host name, with a trailing period. eg. mydomain.com. <--- end with a period.
What is an A record?
You can use a A record whenever you have to assign a specific IP to a domain name or to a subdomain.
Suppose you have the yourdomain.com domain and want to point it at the IP address: 10.10.0.1. You should create an A record in a template like this:
| Host Name | Record Type | Address
|
| * | A | 10.0.0.1 |
Tip: Using the * A record is a wildcard and allows ANYTHING.yourdomain.com to point at the IP address.
What is a CNAME Record?
Canonical name records are aliases for A records. For each CNAME record, you can choose an alias and a host.
You should use a CNAME record whenever you want associate a new subdomain to an already existing A record; i.e. you can make "www.yourdomain.com" to "yourdomain.com", which should already have been assigned an IP with an A record.
Example of a CNAME record:
| Host Name | Record Type | Address
|
| www | CNAME | @ |
This associates the subdomain: www with the base domain, so users can type in your site either way.
It will NOT allow you to forward a domain to a specific web page. eg. mydomain.com/page3.html
What is an MX Record?
Mail Exchange records direct email to servers for a domain, and are listed in order of priority. If mail can't be delivered using the first priority record, the second priority record is used, and so on.
MX Preference : Is a numerical order preference which only applies to, and is always required for, MX record types. Lower order records are the most preferred.
What is an NS record?
Name server records determine which servers will communicate DNS information for a domain. Two NS records must be defined for each domain. eg. The Fabulous Default nameservers for parking are:
ns1.fabulous.com
ns2.fabulous.com
Generally, you will have a primary and a secondary name server record - NS records are updated with Fabulous and will take 24-72 hours to take effect.
