Types of Supported Records | Edgeport Help Center

As described below, there are several types of records that can be associated with a zone. It is possible to create a record name using alphanumeric characters, an at symbol (@), underscores, hyphens, and periods as part of the record name.

Name	Type	Common Usage	Configuration
A	Address	Maps a hostname to an IPv4 address.	Name Identifies a hostname (e.g., @ or www). TTL An indication of how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value This property identifies the IPv4 address that will be mapped to the specified hostname in order to perform the mapping.
AAAA	Address	Maps a hostname to an IPv6 address.	Name Identifies a hostname (e.g., @ or www). TTL Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value This property identifies the IPv6 address that will be mapped to the specified hostname in order to perform the mapping.
CAA	Certificate Authority Authorization	Defines the Certificate Authorities (CAs) that are authorized to issue certificates for the domain corresponding to this zone.	Name Identifies a hostname (e.g., @ or www). TTL Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value Defines your CAA policy for the specified hostname using the following syntax: flags issue\|issuewidl\|iodef value Learn more (Wikipedia). Learn more (RFC 6844). Sample value: 0 issue ca.example.net
CNAME	Alias	A Canonical Name record maps a hostname to another hostname or FQDN.	Name Identifies a hostname (e.g., @ or www). Set the Name option to the @ symbol to indicate that the CNAME record should be pointed to the zone apex (e.g., example.com). It is possible to use an asterisk as a "starts with" wildcard. However, it cannot be used either in the middle or at the end of a specified value. For example, setting the Name option to * will match any hostname that ends with the zone's name (e.g., example.com), such as www.example.com or cdn.example.com. TTL Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value The hostname identified by this option will be mapped to the hostname defined by the Name option. Please append a period to the end of the domain. If this domain does not have a period, the name of the zone will be appended to it. CNAME records must point to a hostname. They cannot point to other CNAME records - each of them should point to a different hostname.
MX	Mail Exchange	Maps a hostname to a mail server. Indicates the SMTP gateways to which mail can be delivered.	Name In this read-only option, the @ symbol is used to identify the hostname associated with the zone that is being read. TTL Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value The priority and hostname of the mail server are specified in this field. The format of this field is as follows: Priority Hostname. Example: 0 smtp1.example.com. There is a definition below for each of these terms. Priority: This value represents an integer value that defines the priority of a given mail server. If the priority value of a given mail server is lower than that of other mail servers within the same zone, that mail server is given priority. Hostname: This value represents the hostname of the mail server. It is important to note that the specified hostname must end with a period (for example, example.com.).
NS	Name Server	Delegates a hostname to a name server.	Name Identifies a hostname (e.g., ns1). TTL Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value An identifier that indicates which name server will be assigned to the specified hostname.
PTR	Pointer	Maps an IPv4 address to a hostname. Use this type of record when setting up a reverse DNS lookup.	Name Provides an identifier for IPv4 addresses based on their fourth octet (such as 100). TTL Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value Identifies a hostname that is going to be mapped to a specific IPv4 address. It is important to note that the specified hostname must end with a period (for example, example.com.)
SOA	Start of Authority	Provides authoritative information about a DNS zone.	The record is automatically created when a zone is created. It cannot be modified.
SPF	Sender Policy Framework	Defines the mail servers that can legitimately send emails from the zone's domain.	Name A zone name is used to identify the zone. This is a read-only option. TTL Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value Identifies the mail server's address.
SRV	Service Locator	Identifies the location of a service (e.g., FTP).	Name It indicates the service's name and protocol. This value can also be appended with a hostname (for example, _http._tcp.example.com). You should ensure that the name of the protocol starts with an underscore (e.g., _tcp, _http, or _udp) and use a period to separate multiple protocols (e.g., _tcp._http TTL Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value A service identifier specifies the priority, weight, port, and target of the service. These properties should be specified as indicated below. Priority Weight Port Target There is a definition below for each of these terms. Priority: The priority of a service is defined by an integer. A service with a lower priority value will be given preference over other services that have the same protocol and target as it. Weight: It is an integer that is used to determine a service's contact order when it has a similar protocol, target, and priority as another service. Port: The port number of the service is represented in this field (e.g., 80). Target: Represents the hostname of the service (e.g., ftp.example.com).
TXT	Text	This record allows text to be associated with a zone. Among its many uses, it can store SPF data.	Name In this field, you have the option of entering free-form text. TTL Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval. Value The text in this field can be set to be free-form.

System-Defined Records

A list of the mandatory records from our DNS service is automatically added to each zone when it is created for the first time. These mandatory records are not editable or deletable. A list of these mandatory records is shown below.

SOA: This parameter defines the primary name server that will be used for your zone.
NS: Name servers are the servers to which queries are directed. These name servers are known as vanity name servers.
A: This section defines the IP addresses (IPv4) that correspond to the vanity name servers.
AAAA: This section defines the IP addresses (IPv6) that correspond to the vanity name servers that we use.

Although the above records are mandatory and can not be modified or deleted, you are always welcome to add, modify, and delete additional NS, A, and AAAA records as you need them.

Defining a Record's Hostname

It is important to note that some records (e.g., A or AAAA records) require a host label in the Name field (e.g., www or us). Keep in mind that the origin associated with the zone (e.g., example.com) will be appended to the specified host label. For example, if you specify us as the host label in the Name option, then the hostname corresponding to that record would be us.example.com. Further syntax information is provided below.

Points To	Syntax	Description
Origin	@	In the case of the @ symbol, it identifies the origin (e.g., example.com) associated with the current zone. In order to use this syntax properly, the Name option must be set to the @ symbol, and no other characters should be used.
Host Label	Host Label	You can specify the name of the host in the Name option. For the purposes of our DNS service, it will treat the record as if the origin (e.g., example.com) had been appended to the record. Do not specify a hostname (e.g., www.example.com).

Zone Apex Support for CNAME Records

The CNAME record can be set on a zone apex (also referred to as a naked domain or root domain). This enables the zone apex (for example, example.com) to resolve to a subdomain (for example, www.example.com).

Configuration

By using the following configuration, you can point a CNAME record to the zone apex (e.g., example.com):

Setting	Value	Description
Name	@	A CNAME record containing the @ symbol indicates that the record should point to the zone apex.
TTL	Seconds	Indicates how long a server should keep the record cached (in seconds) during the requested interval.
Value	Hostname.	The specified hostname must point to a record with the type A or AAAA.

How Does It Work?

CNAME records are resolved by our authoritative name servers to either A or AAAA records. As a result, when a requester attempts to access such a record, the hostname defined in the CNAME record will not be delivered to him or her. Instead, our authoritative name servers will serve the IP address associated with the A or AAAA record.

Sample Scenario

The purpose of this example is to explore how our DNS service handles CNAME records that point to the apex of a zone. In this example, we will use a zone called example.com that contains the following CNAME and A records:

CNAME record configuration:

Setting	Value
Name	@
TTL	3600
Value	www.example.com.

A record configuration:

Setting	Description
Name	www
TTL	3600
Value	192.168.1.100

Our authoritative DNS servers will resolve requests that point to example.com to 192.168.1.100, despite the fact that the requester is unaware that example.com actually points to www.example.com.

Reverse DNS Lookup (PTR Records)

Using a reverse DNS lookup, you can identify the hostname associated with an IPv4 address by using the pointer (PTR) record.

Configuration

Set up a reverse DNS lookup by performing the following steps:

Set up a zone within the in-addr.arpa domain that corresponds to the first three octets of the desired IPv4 address. When setting up this zone, reversing the order of the first three octets is recommended.

Syntax:
3rd Octet.2nd Octet.1st Octet.in-addr.arpa

Example:
Create the following zone for 192.168.1.100:
1.168.192.in-addr.arpa
A PTR record should be created within the above zone for the desired IP address.

SettingValueDescription:
Name
Fourth Octet
Set to the fourth octet of the desired IPv4 address.

TTL
Seconds
Set the TTL to the length of time (in seconds) that a DNS server should cache the record.

Value
Hostname.
Indicate the hostname associated with this IPv4 address.

Example:
Create a PTR record for 192.168.1.100 by setting the name to 100, TTL to 3600, and the value to the desired hostname (e.g., www.example.com.).

As soon as the above configuration has been set up, a reverse DNS lookup for 192.168.1.100 returns the following results:

100.1.168.192.in-addr.arpa. 3600 IN PTR www.example.com.