What Is an A Record

An A (Address) record is the most fundamental DNS record type. It maps a domain name to an IPv4 address, allowing users to access your website using an easy-to-remember name instead of a numeric IP address.

How A Records Work

When someone types your domain into a browser:

1. The browser asks a DNS resolver for the A record
2. The resolver returns the IPv4 address from the A record
3. The browser connects to that IP address to load your site

example.com.    3600    IN    A    192.0.2.1

This record tells DNS resolvers that example.com points to 192.0.2.1 with a TTL of 3600 seconds (1 hour).

Common Use Cases

Single Server Hosting

Point your domain to a web server:

example.com.       3600    A    192.0.2.1
www.example.com.   3600    A    192.0.2.1

Load Balancing with Multiple A Records

Distribute traffic across multiple servers using round-robin DNS:

example.com.    300    A    192.0.2.1
example.com.    300    A    192.0.2.2
example.com.    300    A    192.0.2.3

Subdomains for Different Services

api.example.com.      3600    A    192.0.2.10
mail.example.com.     3600    A    192.0.2.20
staging.example.com.  3600    A    192.0.2.30

Record Format

Adding an A Record

Using the Dashboard

1. Navigate to your zone in the DNScale dashboard
2. Click Add Record
3. Configure the record:
   • Name: Enter subdomain (e.g., www) or @ for apex
   • Type: Select A
   • Value: Enter the IPv4 address
   • TTL: Set the cache duration (default: 3600)
4. Click Create Record

Using the API

Create an A record:

curl -X POST "https://api.dnscale.eu/v1/zones/{zone_id}/records" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "www",
    "type": "A",
    "content": "192.0.2.1",
    "ttl": 3600
  }'

Create multiple A records for load balancing:

# First server
curl -X POST "https://api.dnscale.eu/v1/zones/{zone_id}/records" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "@",
    "type": "A",
    "content": "192.0.2.1",
    "ttl": 300
  }'
 
# Second server
curl -X POST "https://api.dnscale.eu/v1/zones/{zone_id}/records" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "@",
    "type": "A",
    "content": "192.0.2.2",
    "ttl": 300
  }'

API Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "message": "Record created successfully",
    "record": {
      "id": "encoded-record-id",
      "name": "www.example.com.",
      "type": "A",
      "content": "192.0.2.1",
      "ttl": 3600,
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Best Practices

1. Use appropriate TTL values

   • Short TTL (300-900s) if you expect to change the IP frequently
   • Longer TTL (3600-86400s) for stable servers to improve caching

2. Add both A and AAAA records - Support both IPv4 and IPv6 for better connectivity

3. Consider redundancy - Use multiple A records for high-availability setups

4. Apex domain records - Use @ or leave name empty for the root domain

Related Record Types

• AAAA - IPv6 equivalent of A records
• CNAME - Alias to another domain name
• ALIAS - Root domain aliasing

Conclusion

A records are the foundation of DNS, enabling the internet's domain name to IP address translation. With DNScale, managing A records is straightforward whether you're hosting a single website or building a load-balanced infrastructure.