DNS is the internet's address book. When someone types your domain, DNS is what turns that name into the actual server that should answer — and into a handful of other instructions, like where your email should go. Most of the time you never think about it. But the day you connect a domain, set up email, or verify a service, you'll be staring at a list of records wondering which one to touch.
This guide is a plain-English reference for the common record types: what each one does, when you'd reach for it, and how to manage them in your CloudPerch dashboard. DNS for domains we host runs on Cloudflare under the hood, so changes take effect quickly.
The records you'll actually use
Here's the short version before the detail — the records that come up in real life, and what each is for.
| Record | What it does | When you'd touch it |
|---|---|---|
A | Points a name at an IPv4 address | Connecting a domain to your site |
AAAA | Points a name at an IPv6 address | Same as A, for IPv6 |
CNAME | Points a name at another name | Making www follow your root domain |
MX | Says where email for the domain goes | Setting up mailboxes |
TXT | Stores text — used for verification and email auth | Proving ownership, anti-spam records |
NS | Names the servers in charge of your DNS | Moving DNS to or from us |
TTL | How long a record may be cached | Speeding up a planned change |
A and AAAA: pointing at a server
An A record maps a name to an IPv4 address — the classic 203.0.113.5-style number that identifies a server. This is the workhorse: when you point an existing domain at CloudPerch, the change you make to your root domain is an A record set to the address shown in your dashboard.
An AAAA record does the same job for an IPv6 address — the longer, colon-separated kind. You don't usually set these by hand; they're here so you recognise the name.
CNAME: pointing at another name
A CNAME points one name at another name rather than at an address. The classic use is www: you set a CNAME so www.yourdomain.com simply follows wherever your root domain goes. That way you only manage the real destination in one place.
Rule of thumb: a
CNAMEaliases a name to a name; anArecord anchors a name to an address. You can't put aCNAMEon your bare root domain — that's what theArecord is for.
MX: where your email goes
MX (mail exchanger) records tell the world which servers handle email for your domain. They're entirely separate from your website records, which is why your site and your email can live in different places without conflict.
When you set up a mailbox, the MX records are part of what makes you@yourdomain.com able to receive mail. If you host your domain with us, these are managed for you.
TXT: verification and email trust
TXT records just store text, but that text does a lot of quiet work:
- Verification. Lots of services ask you to add a
TXTrecord to prove you control a domain. - SPF says which servers are allowed to send email as your domain.
- DKIM adds a signature so receivers can confirm a message really came from you.
- DMARC ties SPF and DKIM together and tells receivers what to do with mail that fails.
You don't need to memorise those three — just know that when an email provider hands you a string to paste in, it's almost always a TXT record, and getting it right is what keeps your mail out of spam folders.
NS and TTL: the plumbing
NS (nameserver) records name the servers responsible for your domain's DNS. When you move a domain's nameservers to CloudPerch, you're changing this so we — and Cloudflare under the hood — become the source of truth for every other record.
TTL (time to live) is how long a record may be cached before it's checked again, in seconds. A lower TTL like 300 means a change shows up faster; a higher one means less lookup traffic. Lower it a little before a planned switch, then you can raise it again afterwards.
Managing records in your dashboard
For any domain we host, open the domains area in your dashboard to see and edit its records. Add a record by choosing its type, filling in the name and value, and saving — the change lands quickly because DNS runs on Cloudflare under the hood. If you registered the domain with us, the records that point it at your site are already in place, so you may never need to add anything by hand.
Where to go next
Records in context tend to click faster than records in the abstract:
- Point an existing domain at CloudPerch — the
AandCNAMEchange, step by step. - Set up a mailbox and SMTP — where
MXandTXTcome into play.
If a record isn't behaving, the contact page reaches a real person who can look at it with you.