DNS Lookup documentation

Look up core DNS records for a public domain and review grouped answers for routing, mail, and zone metadata.

Overview

Use it when the format needs to change, not the meaning

Use DNS Lookup when you need a quick, grouped read of the core DNS records attached to a public domain or subdomain.

Launch verification

Confirm a hostname resolves to the expected addresses and aliases before release.

Mail routing checks

Review MX and TXT answers when email delivery or verification records look suspicious.

Zone review

Check nameserver and SOA metadata without dropping into a terminal.

Supported inputs

Bring clean source text and keep the direction straight

  • Accepts a public domain or subdomain, not a full URL.
  • Looks up A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, and SOA records together.
  • Each record group shows normalized answers and TTLs when the resolver provides them.

Walk through it

Follow the same sequence you see in the tool

Workflow

Inspect a domain

Use this flow when you want a grouped answer set for one hostname.

  1. Enter the public domain or subdomain you want to inspect.
  2. Run the lookup and review the populated record groups.
  3. Check the TTLs and targets before you copy results into your notes or change request.

Workflow

Review routing signals

Use this flow when you are confirming infrastructure or mail configuration.

  1. Scan A, AAAA, and CNAME records for hostname routing.
  2. Review MX and TXT answers for mail delivery or verification records.
  3. Use the NS and SOA groups to confirm the zone authority and refresh metadata.

What you get

Check the result before you copy it into the next step

Grouped record cards

Each supported record family is separated into its own card for quick review.

Normalized answers

Targets, priorities, TTLs, and zone fields are displayed in a stable format.

Lookup summary

A short summary confirms the normalized domain and how many record families returned answers.

Avoid these mistakes

Small input problems create the biggest conversion errors

Pasting a full URL

Enter only the domain or subdomain, not `https://` or a path.

Assuming absent records are failures

A successful lookup can still return no answers for some record types.

Using private/internal hostnames

This tool is limited to public DNS-style hostnames in v1.

Glossary

Decode the terms before you act on them

This section translates the most technical labels on the page into plain language so you can interpret the output without opening another tab.

A record

An A record maps a hostname to an IPv4 address.

AAAA record

An AAAA record maps a hostname to an IPv6 address.

CNAME

A CNAME record points one hostname at another hostname instead of directly at an IP address.

MX record

An MX record tells mail senders which servers should receive email for the domain.

TXT record

A TXT record stores free-form text values often used for verification, email policies, and other domain controls.

TTL

TTL stands for time to live. In DNS it is the amount of time resolvers may cache an answer before asking again.

Need a different utility? Browse the documentation hub for the rest of the published guides.
Last updated March 31, 2026