The record types you will actually meet, what each does, and when you would add one. You can find these in your dashboard under Domains → DNS.
A
Points a name at an IPv4 address — four numbers, like 203.0.113.42.
This is what connects your domain to your website. We manage yours.
AAAA
The same thing for IPv6 addresses. Managed by us where relevant.
CNAME
Points a name at another name rather than an address. Commonly used so www.yourbusiness.co.uk follows wherever yourbusiness.co.uk goes.
Also what a third-party service gives you when it says “add a CNAME for mail pointing to mail.provider.com”.
MX
Says where email for your domain should be delivered. This is the important one if you have email on your domain.
MX records have a priority number. Lower is tried first. If your provider gives you several, enter them all with the priorities exactly as given.
If your MX records are wrong or missing, email addressed to you silently stops arriving. See keeping your email working.
TXT
Free text attached to your domain. Used for:
- Verification — Google, Microsoft and others ask you to add a specific string to prove you control the domain
- SPF — lists which servers may send email as you
- DKIM — signing keys for your email
- DMARC — what receivers should do with mail that fails those checks
You will paste these in exactly as your provider gives them. They look like nonsense; that is normal.
CAA
Says which certificate authorities may issue HTTPS certificates for your domain. Optional. If you add one, include the authority we use or certificate renewal will fail — ask us first.
SRV
Points at a service on a specific host and port. You will only meet this if a provider tells you to add one, usually for VoIP or Microsoft Teams.
NS
Nameservers — which company runs your DNS. You will not find these in your dashboard editor, deliberately: changing them hands your whole domain to another provider, which is the fastest way to take your site offline in a way we cannot undo from our side.
If you want to move away, tell us and we will help you do it properly.
The fields you fill in
Name — the part before your domain. @ means the domain itself. www means www.yourdomain. mail means mail.yourdomain.
Value — what it points at. Copy exactly, including any trailing dot.
TTL — how long it may be cached. Leave on Automatic unless you have a reason.
Priority — MX and SRV only.
Why some rows are locked
The records pointing your domain at your website are shown but not editable. They are the ones that break your site, and the first sign of a mistake would be a customer telling you your website is down.
Everything else — email, verification, subdomains — is yours to edit freely.