How to configure my DNS settings



Here’s what you’ll see:
  1. A general overview and DNS.
  2. How to find someone to host my website.
  3. A record.
  4. CNAME record.
  5. AAAA record

1. What is DNS? DNS stands for Domain Name System. It’s like your contacts in your phone, but for the internet. When you lookup someone in your phone, you search by their name,

and it will give you their phone number. DNS is kind of like this. It will convert a website name to an IP (Internet Protocol) address.

Because we need to way to talk to computers, and they need to understand us, in comes DNS. It is like a translator between us and the internet. It’s like a phonebook, so we need to access that phonebook to lookup a website. First it will look in the “ municipal” phone book, or your local cache.

Then it will look outwards and go looking further for information. There are lots of steps to DNS, but for now I will only skim the surface of DNS.

2. Hosting your website.

How do I find someone to host my website. To create your own website. You need to purchase a domain name (either from GoDaddy, Hostinger, Squarespace etc..). This will allow you to see what’s taken and purchase your own website. And the costs are reasonable. Then you will need to configure it. But often the configuration is done automatically. But sometimes you need to do it manually.

3. What is an A record?

A DNS A record (the A stands for address), is the standard way to link an IP to an IPv4 public address. When you login to the place where your site is being hosted (i.e. GoDaddy), you can see what the A record is for your site. Another word for this is your apex domain which, does not include “www.” the beginning. Below is an example of an A record, using Hostinger:
Type is: “A record” Name: “where in your website it will direct to (for example: your main landing page or the root @)

Content: this is your 32-bit IPv4 public (as opposed to private)

TTL: this is your time to live. In the above case, it means that the information will be cached by the resolver for 1800 seconds, and then it will query to confirm the information again.
Sometimes you may have multiple A records that is used for load balancing, but usually there is only one.

4. What is a CNAME record?

A CNAME or canonical names is like a nickname for your website, also called an alias.

A CNAME record points to another domain name (not an IP address).

A CNAME should always point to your main domain name (A record). CNAMES are used to organize large dynamics sites.

For example, if you site has a blog section, you could configure your site with a CNAME called blog.example.com, or if your site has a store section, you could configure your site with a CNAME store.example.com. Below is an example of a CNAME:



5. What is a “AAAA” record?

AAAA records are less common but becoming more and more popular. They point to an IPv6 address. Eventually IPv6 is going to become more applicable the more IPv4 get used. Below is an example of a AAAA record:

6.Conclusion: Do I need to know DNS?

Answer is yes! DNS makes the internet possible. And many connectivity issues arise because of DNS. “IT’S ALWAYS DNS!” Unless you want to memorize all the 32-bit digits for all your favorite websites. And bad actors now are using method with DNS to hack their way into systems. So the more you know about DNS, the better informed and ready you’ll be.

Notes:

References: https://www.top10.com/hosting/ca-domainhosting-comparison

Graphics create with openart.ai

https://support.dnsimple.com/articles/a-record/