What Is DNS?
DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet's phone book. It translates human-readable domain names like anonymiz.com into the IP addresses that computers use to communicate. Without DNS, you would need to remember IP addresses for every website you visit.
Common DNS Record Types
A Record
Maps a domain to an IPv4 address. When you visit a website, your browser first looks up the A record to find the server's IP address. Example: anonymiz.com → 203.0.113.42.
AAAA Record
The IPv6 equivalent of an A record. Maps a domain to a 128-bit IPv6 address for modern networks.
MX Record
Mail Exchange records specify which mail servers handle email for a domain. The priority number (lower = higher priority) determines which server is tried first.
CNAME Record
Canonical Name records point one domain to another. Commonly used to point www.example.com to example.com or to a CDN hostname.
TXT Record
Stores arbitrary text data. Used for SPF (email authentication), DKIM keys, DMARC policies and domain ownership verification for services like Google Search Console.
NS Record
Name Server records indicate which DNS servers are authoritative for a domain. Changing NS records transfers DNS control to a new provider.
Why DNS Changes Take Time to Propagate
Every DNS record has a TTL (Time To Live) value telling other servers how long they're allowed to cache that answer before checking again — a record with a 24-hour TTL means any resolver that already cached it won't re-check for up to a full day, even after you've updated the actual record. This is why "DNS propagation" isn't really about the change spreading slowly; it's about waiting out however long every individual cache along the way decided to hold onto the old answer.
A Common Migration Trap
Lowering a record's TTL should happen well before a planned migration, not at the moment of the change — if you drop the TTL from 24 hours to 5 minutes on the same day you're switching servers, resolvers that cached the record hours earlier are still holding the old 24-hour instruction and won't respect your new, shorter TTL until they check again. The reliable approach is lowering the TTL a day or two in advance, letting that shorter value fully propagate first, then making the actual server change once you know caches will refresh quickly.
Check Any Domain's DNS Records
Use our free DNS Lookup Tool to check A, AAAA, MX, CNAME, TXT, NS, SOA, PTR and CAA records for any domain instantly.
