DNS Lookup Tool

Check all DNS records for any domain instantly — A, AAAA, MX, TXT, CNAME, NS and SOA. Results are fetched directly from authoritative nameservers in real time. Free, no sign-up required.

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Real-time lookup
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What This Tool Does

This tool queries the authoritative nameservers for any domain you enter and returns every publicly available DNS record type in real time — A, AAAA, MX, CNAME, NS, TXT and SOA. Results are never cached on Convixy's side: every lookup reflects the live state of the domain's DNS configuration at the moment you run it. IP addresses resolved from A and AAAA records appear as clickable pills that link directly to the IP Lookup tool for instant geolocation and network details.

Address Records (A & AAAA)

IPv4 and IPv6 addresses the domain resolves to, with TTL shown for every record.

Mail Records (MX)

All mail servers configured for the domain, with priority values that determine delivery order.

Text Records (TXT)

SPF, DKIM, DMARC and domain verification tokens used for email authentication and service ownership proof.

Authority Records (NS & SOA)

The nameservers responsible for the zone and the SOA metadata governing caching and zone transfers.

Understanding DNS Record Types

DNS is a hierarchical distributed database, and each record type has a precise, distinct function. Knowing what each one controls lets you diagnose problems faster and make changes with confidence.

A and AAAA records are the most fundamental — they map your hostname to an IP address so browsers know where to connect. MX records control where email for your domain is delivered; multiple MX entries with different priority values provide redundancy so a backup server handles mail if the primary is unreachable. CNAME records create hostname aliases, letting www.example.com point to a CDN or SaaS hostname without manually tracking IP addresses. NS records delegate authority for the zone to specific nameservers — changing these transfers DNS control from one provider to another. TXT records hold free-form text used for SPF email sender authorisation, DKIM public keys, DMARC policies, and domain ownership verification by third-party services. The SOA record is the administrative record for the entire zone, containing the primary nameserver, a contact address, a serial number that increments on every change, and timing parameters that govern how secondary nameservers synchronise.

Practical DNS Diagnostics

Frequently Asked Questions

What is DNS and how does a lookup actually work?

DNS (Domain Name System) is the distributed global directory that translates domain names into the IP addresses computers use to communicate. When you type a domain into a browser, your device sends a query to a recursive resolver. If the resolver has the answer cached it replies immediately; if not, it works up through the DNS hierarchy — querying root servers, then TLD servers (e.g. .com), then the domain's authoritative nameservers — to get the definitive answer.

This tool queries the authoritative nameservers directly, bypassing any intermediate cache, so results always reflect the current published state of the domain's DNS configuration regardless of whether any particular resolver has caught up with recent changes. Every lookup is a fresh query with no caching on Convixy's side.

What do the different DNS record types mean?

A records map a hostname to an IPv4 address — the most fundamental record type. AAAA records do the same for IPv6. MX records specify which mail servers accept email for the domain, with priority numbers that determine delivery order. CNAME records create an alias from one hostname to another — useful for pointing subdomains to CDNs or hosted services without tracking IPs manually.

NS records identify the authoritative nameservers for the domain — changing these transfers DNS authority from one provider to another and is the most impactful DNS change you can make. TXT records hold free-form text used for SPF, DKIM, DMARC and domain ownership verification. The SOA record is the administrative record for the entire DNS zone, containing the primary nameserver, an encoded contact address, a serial number, and timing parameters for zone synchronisation.

What is TTL and how does it affect DNS changes?

TTL (Time To Live) is the number of seconds that resolvers and browsers are permitted to cache a DNS record before re-querying the authoritative server for a fresh answer. A record with a TTL of 86400 can be cached for 24 hours; one with a TTL of 300 expires after 5 minutes. The TTL value is shown for every record in the results above.

Before any server migration or DNS cut-over, lower the TTL on the affected records to 300 seconds at least 24–48 hours in advance. This ensures that once you make the change, the old cached records expire and resolvers worldwide pick up the new address within minutes rather than hours. After the change is confirmed working and stable, raise the TTL back to a higher value (typically 3600 or 86400) to restore caching performance and reduce DNS query load.

What is DNS propagation and how long does it take?

Propagation is the time it takes for a DNS record change to spread through the global network of recursive resolvers and caches. When you update a record, the authoritative nameserver immediately serves the new value — but resolvers around the world continue serving the old cached record until its TTL expires. The commonly cited "up to 48 hours" represents the worst case when records have very high TTLs or when resolvers do not correctly honour TTL values.

In practice, most changes propagate within minutes to a few hours when TTLs have been lowered in advance. Since this tool queries authoritative nameservers directly, it shows the new record immediately after you save it — well before most resolvers have updated their caches. If you see the new record here but your browser still loads the old site, flushing your local DNS cache is the fastest fix: ipconfig /flushdns on Windows or sudo dscacheutil -flushcache on macOS.

When should I use a CNAME instead of an A record?

Use an A record when you know the exact IP address of your server and it is stable — typically for your root domain (example.com) or any hostname pointing at a fixed IP. Use a CNAME when you want to alias a subdomain to another hostname, such as pointing www.example.com to a CDN or cloud platform that manages its own IP addresses. This way, if the service's IP changes, your DNS automatically follows without any manual update.

The key constraint: you cannot place a CNAME at the zone apex alongside other records — DNS rules prohibit it. Most DNS providers offer a proprietary ALIAS or ANAME record type to work around this for root domain scenarios. If you are migrating from one CDN to another, a CNAME at the subdomain level makes the transition seamless since you only update the target hostname rather than tracking IP changes.

Why are MX records important and how do I read the priority values?

MX (Mail Exchanger) records tell sending mail servers where to deliver email addressed to your domain. When multiple MX records exist, the priority number (sometimes called preference) determines which server is attempted first — lower numbers mean higher priority. If the primary server is unavailable, the sender falls back to the next lowest priority entry automatically, providing delivery redundancy without any action needed from the recipient.

Google Workspace uses aspmx.l.google.com with priority 1 as its primary entry and several backup servers at higher numbers. Microsoft 365 uses a single [tenant].mail.protection.outlook.com entry. If email delivery is failing, checking MX records here is the correct first diagnostic step — a missing, incorrect or expired MX record is one of the most common causes of complete email delivery failure for a domain.

What are TXT records used for beyond plain text?

TXT records carry free-form text data and are used for several critical operational purposes. SPF (Sender Policy Framework) declares which IP addresses and services are authorised to send email on behalf of your domain — a missing or incorrect SPF record is a leading cause of legitimate mail being marked as spam or rejected outright. DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) publishes a public key used to verify cryptographic signatures on outbound email, proving the message was not altered in transit.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) sets the policy for handling email that fails SPF or DKIM checks — monitor only, quarantine to spam, or reject entirely — and can request aggregate reports of authentication failures from receiving mail servers. Domain ownership verification by services like Google Search Console, Cloudflare, GitHub and others also uses TXT records, typically requiring you to add a specific token value that the service checks to confirm you control the domain.

What is an SOA record and do I ever need to edit it?

The SOA (Start of Authority) record is the administrative record for a DNS zone. It contains the primary nameserver (mname), an encoded administrative contact address (rname, where the first dot replaces the @ in the email address), a serial number that must increment on every zone change, and four timing parameters: refresh interval (how often secondary nameservers check for updates), retry interval (how long to wait before retrying a failed refresh), expire time (how long a secondary can serve data without a successful refresh), and negative caching TTL.

In almost every case your DNS provider creates and manages the SOA record automatically — you never need to interact with it directly when using hosted DNS services like Cloudflare, Route 53 or Namecheap. You only need to edit the SOA manually if you operate your own authoritative nameserver software such as BIND or PowerDNS. The serial number is particularly important when running your own server: failing to increment it on zone changes means secondary nameservers will not fetch the updated records.

What is the difference between forward and reverse DNS?

A forward DNS lookup — which is what this tool performs — resolves a domain name into IP addresses and associated records. It answers the question "what IP does this domain point to?" A reverse DNS lookup goes in the opposite direction: it takes an IP address and returns the hostname assigned to it via a PTR record, answering "what hostname does this IP belong to?"

Reverse DNS is controlled by the organisation that owns the IP block — typically the ISP or hosting provider — rather than the domain owner. Mail servers use PTR records to verify sending IP identities as part of spam filtering, and sysadmins use them to identify unknown hosts in network traffic logs. Use Convixy's dedicated Reverse DNS tool to look up the PTR record for any IP address, or the IP Lookup tool to get full geolocation and network details for any resolved IP.

Are my DNS queries stored or logged?

No. Every lookup runs fresh when you submit the form. The domain you enter and the results returned are not written to any database, not associated with any user profile, and not shared with third parties. No account is required to use the tool, so there is nothing to log a query against. Results are fetched live from authoritative nameservers on every request with no caching on Convixy's servers.

Standard web server access logs record the URL of each request — which includes the domain you searched as a URL query parameter — for security and uptime monitoring purposes, but these logs are periodically rotated and are not used for user tracking, analytics profiling or advertising. You can look up any publicly accessible domain or hostname without creating an account or providing any personal information.