How to use DNS Lookup Tool
The DNS Lookup tool queries the live Domain Name System for any hostname and returns its A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, SOA and other records straight from the authoritative servers. Use it to verify that a new domain is resolving correctly, to debug propagation after a DNS change, or to inspect how a competitor has configured their mail and verification records. Results come from a real recursive query at request time, not a cached database, so what you see is what resolvers on the public internet see right now.
- Enter the domain name you want to inspect (for example example.com).
- Choose the record type, or select ALL to fetch every common record at once.
- Click Lookup to run a live query against the public DNS.
- Review the returned records, TTL values and the answering name server.
- Copy the results or re-run the lookup after making a change to confirm it.
What the common DNS record types mean
Each DNS record type serves a different purpose. A and AAAA records map a hostname to an IPv4 or IPv6 address. CNAME records alias one name to another. MX records direct email to the correct mail servers in priority order. NS records delegate a zone to its authoritative name servers. TXT records hold arbitrary text used for SPF, DKIM, DMARC and domain-ownership verification. Knowing which record answers which question is the first step in diagnosing almost any DNS or email problem.
| Type | Purpose | Example value |
|---|---|---|
| A | Hostname → IPv4 address | 93.184.216.34 |
| AAAA | Hostname → IPv6 address | 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946 |
| CNAME | Alias to another hostname | www → example.com |
| MX | Mail server + priority | 10 mail.example.com |
| NS | Authoritative name server | ns1.example.com |
| TXT | Free-form text / policies | v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all |
Understanding TTL and propagation
Every DNS record carries a TTL (time to live) measured in seconds, which tells resolvers how long they may cache the answer before asking again. A record with a 3600-second TTL can be cached for an hour, so a change you make may take up to that long to be seen everywhere. Lowering the TTL before a planned migration and raising it again afterwards is a common technique to make cut-overs fast while keeping normal traffic efficient. If a lookup still shows an old value, the TTL has usually not yet expired in the resolver you are querying through.
Glossary
- Resolver
- A server that accepts DNS queries from clients and recursively finds the answer on their behalf.
- Authoritative server
- The name server that holds the original, definitive records for a domain zone.
- TTL
- Time to live — how many seconds a DNS answer may be cached before it must be re-fetched.
- Zone
- A portion of the DNS namespace, such as example.com, managed as a single administrative unit.
- Recursive query
- A query in which the resolver does all the work of following the DNS hierarchy to return a final answer.
Related reading
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use DNS Lookup Tool?
- See every DNS record type for a domain in a single real-time query
- Verify that a newly published A or CNAME record resolves as expected
- Inspect competitor SPF, MX and TXT records without writing any scripts
- Confirm TTL values before planning a time-sensitive hosting migration
Common use cases
- Check whether a new domain is resolving correctly after it was registered
- Audit TXT records to find stale verification strings from old services
- Look up MX records to identify which email provider a domain uses
- Confirm a CNAME alias points at the right target after a CDN setup
- Investigate why a subdomain returns an unexpected IP address
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