Even if you don’t consider yourself “tech-savvy”, it’s helpful to know a few basics about DNS, short for Domain Name System. DNS is often called “the Internet’s phone book” for a reason, as it’s the reference source for directing yourdomainname.com‘s website and email traffic to the correct places (most of which are impossible-to-remember numerical IP addresses).
When a client changes website hosts or email providers, it’s necessary to update the domain name’s DNS records. This is the process of telling your DNS host (usually your domain registrar, such as GoDaddy or NameCheap) where to send queries. It’s also used to route email, so for example, if you have Microsoft 365, those specific settings are added to the domain, so messages are routed correctly. Although you may not often need to update your DNS, it’s not a bad idea to familiarize yourself with a few basic terms:
Nameservers: A domain’s nameservers tell the Internet who is holding the DNS details of a domain, including websites, email, or verification codes. Nameservers are usually held by a domain registrar, but can also be a hosting company or a specialty DNS management service. The nameservers tell the webmaster where to make updates and changes when needed. They usually start with “NS”—here’s an example for a GoDaddy nameserver set:
ns93.domaincontrol.com
ns94.domaincontrol.com
A Records: An A record directs traffic to a website, and is always an IP address that identifies your website’s host server.
MX Records: These records direct email routing (MX is short for mail exchange). There’s at least one, and sometimes as many as 5 or more. Each have a “priority” assigned to them. Here’s MX records for Google Workspace mail:
ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
ALT3.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
ALT4.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
CNAME Records: Short for Canonical Name Record, A CNAME is how a subdomain or domain alias is defined. The most common example is “www.yourdomain.com”…which is using “www” as a CNAME. They can also be used for domain ownership or other types of verification.
TXT Records: Used for details such as domain authorization or ownership validation, such as email spam and spoofing control (DKIM and SPF).
Pro tip: While recently passed privacy laws prevent a domain owner’s contact details from being viewed, it’s still easy to find out a domain name’s DNS record values. Anyone can use a free lookup service such as What’s My DNS or SecurityTrails to find out specifics (at least partial information is usually available).
These are just the most common and important DNS records, but there are many. If you’re curious, here’s an exhaustive list of all DNS record types. While this post is a very surface overview, DNS management can get very weedy pretty quickly. Having a webmaster available to help out with your website and DNS updates can be a lifesaver.
I hope you found this quick overview of DNS helpful!