The A record is one of the most fundamental DNS record types. It's the record that connects your domain name to the actual server where your website is hosted.
What Does an A Record Look Like?
A typical A record in a DNS zone file looks like this:
example.com. 3600 IN A 104.21.33.85
www 3600 IN A 104.21.33.85This tells DNS: "example.com points to IP address 104.21.33.85".
A Record vs AAAA Record
The A record is for IPv4 addresses (32-bit, e.g. 93.184.216.34). The AAAA record (four As) is for IPv6 addresses (128-bit, e.g. 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946). Most domains have both A and AAAA records to support both address types.
Common A Record Configurations
- Root domain —
example.com→ your server IP - www subdomain —
www.example.com→ your server IP - Subdomains —
mail.example.com→ your mail server IP - Multiple IPs — One domain can have multiple A records for load balancing
How to Check A Records
Use our free DNS Lookup tool to query the A records for any domain. Select "A" as the record type and enter the domain name.
A Record TTL
The TTL (Time to Live) in an A record tells DNS resolvers how long to cache it. A low TTL (300 seconds) is useful when you're planning to change your hosting. A higher TTL (3600–86400) reduces DNS query load in normal operation.
Common Mistakes
- Forgetting to add an A record for the
wwwsubdomain - Pointing A records to a domain name instead of an IP (use CNAME for that)
- Not updating A records when migrating to a new server