Scan DNS Records

Scanning DNS records…

What Each Record in Your Scan Means

When you scan a domain above, the tool queries six record types against authoritative DNS-over-HTTPS resolvers (Google Public DNS or Cloudflare, depending on configuration). Here is how to interpret each one, with realistic example values:

TypeExample valueHow to read it
A93.184.216.34The IPv4 server behind the domain. Multiple A records mean load balancing; an IP owned by Cloudflare or a CDN means the real server is hidden behind a proxy.
AAAA2606:2800:220:1::1The IPv6 equivalent. Its absence is common and harmless; its presence signals modern, well-maintained infrastructure.
CNAMEshops.myshopify.comAn alias — the name borrows another hostname's records. The target often reveals the hosting platform (Shopify, GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel).
MXaspmx.l.google.com (pri 1)Where the domain's email goes. Google or Microsoft MX hosts indicate a real organization; no MX at all means the domain sends and receives no mail.
NSdara.ns.cloudflare.comWho controls the DNS zone. Parking nameservers (sedoparking.com, bodis.com) are a strong signal the domain is listed for sale.
SOAserial 2026071201Zone metadata. The serial number often encodes the date of the last DNS change — useful for spotting recently reconfigured domains.

Three Real Troubleshooting Scenarios

"My website stopped loading after a migration." Scan the domain and compare the A record against your new server's IP. If the old IP still appears, either the change was never saved at the DNS host, or you are seeing cached data within the record's TTL window. Check the NS records too — a surprisingly common failure is updating DNS at the old provider while the domain actually delegates to a different one.

"Emails to this domain bounce." Look at MX records. No MX records means mail has nowhere to go. MX pointing to a decommissioned server produces timeouts and deferred bounces. After a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 setup, the MX host must match the provider's documentation exactly — a single typo silently discards mail.

"I'm evaluating a domain before buying it." The DNS profile tells you how the domain is being used right now: parking nameservers plus no MX equals a pure investment hold; corporate nameservers with Google MX equals an operating business that will not sell cheap; no records at all equals a dormant asset whose owner may be receptive to an offer.

How DNS Resolution Actually Works

When someone types a domain into a browser, their resolver walks a chain: root servers point to the TLD's servers (for .com, Verisign's gTLD servers), which point to the domain's authoritative nameservers — the NS records you see above — which finally answer with the A/AAAA record. Every answer carries a TTL (time to live) in seconds that tells resolvers how long to cache it. That cache is why DNS changes feel slow: nothing is "propagating" — old answers are simply being served from cache until their TTL runs out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Exactly as long as the old record's TTL, plus nothing. A record cached with a 3600-second TTL is refreshed within an hour everywhere. The "48 hours" figure dates from an era of long default TTLs; if you lower TTL to 300 before a migration, the switch completes in minutes.
You are likely hitting different resolver caches mid-change. This tool queries Google or Cloudflare DNS-over-HTTPS directly, which refreshes aggressively, so results here are usually ahead of ISP resolvers.
The zone is delegated but empty — the owner pointed the domain at a DNS host and never configured it. For investors this reads as a domain held without active use, which can be an acquisition signal.
Those live in our dedicated TXT Record Scanner, which also checks SPF, DMARC and eight common DKIM selectors in one pass. Find it in the Domain Tools menu.
Resolvers report the remaining cache time, not the original TTL. A record published with TTL 3600 that was cached 10 minutes ago reports 3000. Scan twice and watch the number fall — that is the cache counting down.