A Records Explained Simply

What is an A Record?

An A (Address) record is the most basic type of DNS record. It connects a domain name to an IP address - think of it as connecting a business name to its physical street address.

Real-world examples:

# Pointing your main domain to your web server
example.com             →    192.0.2.1

# Setting up multiple subdomains
mail.example.com       →    192.0.2.2
shop.example.com       →    192.0.2.3

# Load balancing between multiple servers
example.com            →    192.0.2.1
example.com            →    192.0.2.2
example.com            →    192.0.2.3

Simple Explanation

Imagine you're trying to find a friend's house. You know their name (like a domain name), but to actually get there, you need their street address (like an IP address).

An A record is like a phone book entry that says:

"John Smith" (domain name) lives at "123 Main Street" (IP address)
"Jane Doe" (another domain) lives at "456 Oak Avenue" (different IP address)

When you type a website address into your browser, your computer uses A records to find out which IP address (street address) to connect to.

Common Uses (With Examples)

✓
Website Hosting
Connect your domain to your web server:
```
example.com → 192.0.2.1
```
✓
Email Servers
Point your mail subdomain to your email server:
```
mail.example.com → 192.0.2.2
```
✓
Load Balancing
Distribute traffic across multiple servers:
```
example.com → 192.0.2.1 example.com → 192.0.2.2
```

Important Things to Know

•
IPv4 Only
A records only work with IPv4 addresses (like 192.0.2.1). For IPv6 addresses, you need AAAA records.
•
Multiple Records Allowed
You can have multiple A records for the same domain, which is useful for load balancing or redundancy.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

⚠️
Using Wrong IP Type
Don't try to use IPv6 addresses in A records - use AAAA records instead.
⚠️
Forgetting TTL
Setting too high or too low TTL (Time To Live) values can make it hard to change IPs later.

Quick Tips for Success

✓
Verify Your IP Address
Double-check the IP address before creating the record - a wrong number means your domain won't work.
✓
Set Appropriate TTL
Use lower TTL values (like 300 seconds) if you might need to change the IP address soon.
✓
Consider Using Backup Records
For important services, set up multiple A records pointing to different servers for redundancy.

Beep beep... Loading...