A record
An A record is the basic DNS record type that maps a hostname to an IPv4 address, defined in RFC 1035 alongside the rest of the core DNS record set. When a resolver looks up a domain's A record, it gets back one or more 32-bit IPv4 addresses a client can connect to directly; a domain can publish several A records for the same name to spread traffic across multiple servers, a simple form of load distribution usually called round-robin DNS. The IPv6 counterpart, the AAAA record (RFC 3596), serves the same purpose for 128-bit addresses, and a dual-stack domain typically publishes both for the same hostname. AdminKit's DNS lookup tool queries a domain's A records alongside AAAA, MX, TXT, NS and CAA in a single lookup, making it easy to confirm which IPv4 address visitors will actually reach.
By AdminKit team, Netbase JSC · Updated