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A

A Record

Active

The A record maps a domain name to an IPv4 address.

name TTL IN A ipv4-address

In one line

The A record maps a domain name to an IPv4 address. It is the most fundamental DNS record type, used for all standard web traffic. When a browser resolves example.com, it queries the A record to find the server's IPv4 address to connect to.

Description

The A (Address) record is the most commonly used DNS record type. It maps a hostname to a 32-bit IPv4 address, enabling browsers and other clients to find the IP address of a server from its domain name. Multiple A records can exist for the same domain to enable load balancing.

Examples

Basic A record
shell
example.com.    300    IN    A    93.184.216.34
Lookup with dig
shell
dig example.com A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.    300    IN    A    93.184.216.34
Multiple A records (load balancing)
shell
www.example.com.    60    IN    A    192.0.2.1
www.example.com.    60    IN    A    192.0.2.2
www.example.com.    60    IN    A    192.0.2.3

Related Record Types

AAAACNAME

Specification

RFC 1035 – DNS A record specification →