What Is DNS A Record?

Why It Matters

A records are the backbone of the internet’s domain name system. When you type example.com in your browser, the DNS resolver looks up the A record to find the IP address of the server hosting that website.

For domain forwarding, A records are essential because they’re the only standard way to point an apex domain to a redirect server. Unlike subdomains, which can use CNAME records, the apex domain requires A records (or the non-standard ALIAS record).

How It Works

An A record contains:

• Name: The domain or subdomain (e.g., @ for the apex, www for the www subdomain)
• Type: A
• Value: An IPv4 IP address (e.g., 93.184.216.34)
• TTL: How long resolvers should cache this record

When a browser requests example.com:

1. The DNS resolver queries the authoritative name server
2. The name server returns the A record’s IP address
3. The browser connects to that IP address

A Record vs CNAME

Feature	A Record	CNAME
Points to	IP address	Another domain name
Works at apex	Yes	No (violates DNS spec)
Follows target changes	No (static IP)	Yes (always resolves to current IP)

Use A records when you need to point the apex domain or when the target has a fixed IP. Use CNAME for subdomains when you want to automatically follow the target’s IP changes.

How Domain Forward Handles This

Domain Forward provides specific A record IP addresses for your DNS setup. Point your apex domain’s A record to our IPs, and our servers will handle the redirect. For subdomains, we also support CNAME records pointing to our redirect hostname.