DNS Vocabulary

Start of Authority (SOA)

A record that identifies the name server that's primarily responsible for the database segments it manages.

Canonical Name (CNAME)

A record that is used to map duplicate host names to a single IP address. Alias

SRV record

Intended to provide information on available services.

MX (Mail Exchanger) record

Records within DNS servers that are used by SMTP servers to determine where to send mail.

Reverse Lookup Zone

A DNS setting that resolves IP addresses to FQDNs. In other words, it does exactly the reverse of what DNS normally accomplishes using forward lookup zones.

secondary zone

A DNS zone containing a read-only copy of all resource records for the zone. Changes can't be made directly on a secondary DNS server, but because it contains an exact copy of the primary zone, it's considered authoritative for the zone.

Primary Zone

A DNS zone containing a read/write master copy of all resource records for the zone; this zone is authoritative for the zone.

TXT record

A TXT record is used to associate any arbitrary text with a hostname. This record type is only used in specific cases such as Domain Keys Identified Mail, used as a method to detect email spoofing.

Dynamic Domain Name System (DDNS)

A form of DNS that enables client computers to update DNS registration information so that this does not have to be done manually. DDNS is often used with DHCP servers to automatically register IP addresses on a DNS server.

Extension Mechanisms for DNS

EDNS

IP Address Management (IPAM)

IP address management (IPAM) is a means of planning, tracking, and managing the Internet Protocol address space used in a network. IPAM integrates DNS and DHCP so that each is aware of changes in the other (for instance DNS knowing of the IP address taken by a client via DHCP, and updating itself accordingly).

Name Server (NS) Record

Identifies the DNS server that has authority over a particular domain

AAAA record

The DNS record that maps a hostname to a 128-bit IPv6 address. This is also known as the IPv6 address record.