DNS Lookup

Every common record type for any domain on a single page — A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS, TXT, and SOA.

What it does

DNS Lookup performs a comprehensive query against a domain's authoritative nameservers and returns every common record type in a single view: A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, SOA, and CNAME. It gives you a one-page snapshot of how a domain is configured — where it points, who hosts its mail, which nameservers are authoritative, and which TXT-based policies (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, verification tokens) are published. To compare what each public resolver currently returns, switch to DNS Checker; for a focused mail audit, use MX Lookup.

When to use it

  • Auditing a domain you just inherited or acquired and need a full inventory of its current DNS configuration before making any changes. Cross-check ownership and registrar with WHOIS Lookup.
  • Verifying that a DNS migration to a new provider preserved every record type, not just the obvious A and MX entries.
  • Investigating an email deliverability issue by reading SPF, DKIM, and DMARC TXT records side by side. If those look correct, check the sending IP via IP Blacklist Check.
  • Confirming that a CNAME chain (e.g., for a CDN or SaaS vendor) resolves correctly all the way to a final A record. Resolve the final IP back to a hostname with Reverse DNS.
  • Checking SOA serial numbers to confirm that a zone has been updated since your last edit.

How to read the results

A and AAAA records show the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses the hostname resolves to — pivot from those into IP Lookup to see ASN and geolocation. MX records list mail exchangers with a priority — lower numbers are tried first. NS records identify the authoritative nameservers; they should match what's set at the registrar (verify via WHOIS Lookup). The SOA record contains the zone serial, refresh, retry, and minimum TTL — the serial increments every time the zone is edited. TXT records carry policy data: v=spf1 entries are SPF, v=DMARC1 is DMARC, and others are typically domain-ownership verification tokens.

Common mistakes

  • Treating an empty AAAA result as a misconfiguration — many domains intentionally publish no IPv6 record, and that is valid.
  • Mixing up NS records at the parent zone (the registrar's delegation) with NS records inside the zone itself; mismatches cause "lame delegation" issues.
  • Forgetting that CNAMEs are not allowed at a zone apex — using one breaks SOA, NS, and MX resolution at that name.
  • Reading multiple SPF records as redundancy; per RFC 7208 only one v=spf1 record is permitted per domain, and a second one invalidates the policy.
Call this tool from the API

Get the same result via REST. Create a free API key at /account/api-keys — 100 calls/day on the free tier; 50k on Pro. 

# curl — JSON response (default)
curl https://internettimes.com:80/api/v1/dns-lookup/example.com \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

# Markdown response — ingest-friendly for agents
curl "https://internettimes.com:80/api/v1/dns-lookup/example.com?format=md" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between A and AAAA records?

An A record maps a domain to an IPv4 address (e.g. 93.184.216.34). An AAAA record maps a domain to an IPv6 address (e.g. 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946). Both can coexist for the same domain.

What is an MX record?

An MX (Mail Exchange) record specifies which mail servers handle email for a domain. Each MX record has a priority value; lower numbers are tried first.

What is a CNAME record?

A CNAME (Canonical Name) record aliases one domain to another. For example, www.example.com can CNAME to example.com so they share the same A record.