DNS records explained in plain English
A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV and NS — what each one does and when you need it.
DNS is the phone book of the internet: it turns human names into machine addresses. These are the record types you will actually meet.
The core types
A — name → IPv4 address.
example.com. A 203.0.113.10AAAA — name → IPv6 address.
example.com. AAAA 2001:db8::10CNAME — name → another name (an alias).
www.example.com. CNAME example.com.Cannot be used at the apex. Cannot coexist with other records of the same name.
MX — where to deliver email for the domain.
example.com. MX 10 mail.example.com.The number is priority; lower wins.
TXT — free text, used for verification and email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
example.com. TXT "v=spf1 include:example.net ~all"NS — which nameservers are authoritative for the zone. Set at your registrar.
SRV — service location (host and port) for protocols like SIP, XMPP and Matrix.
CAA — which certificate authorities may issue certificates for your domain.
PTR — reverse DNS: IP → name. Usually set by your provider, not you.
The one rule that trips everyone up
A name can be a CNAME or have other records, never both. If www is a CNAME, you cannot also put an A or TXT on www. And the apex must use A/AAAA (or a provider-specific flattened alias), not CNAME.
Wildcards
*.example.com matches any single label not otherwise defined — blog.example.com, shop.example.com. Useful, but it also silently answers for typos, so use deliberately.
Where to edit them
Either in your HostingSwift panel under Domains (if your nameservers point at us) or at your registrar's DNS console. You can only edit records where the zone is actually hosted. See Nameservers and where DNS lives.
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