Know the record types
DNS connects names to services. The provider hosting your authoritative nameservers controls the active records; that may be different from the company where the domain was registered.
| Type | Purpose |
|---|---|
| A / AAAA | Website or other service address: IPv4 / IPv6. |
| CNAME | An alias pointing to another hostname. |
| MX | Mail servers accepting email for the domain. |
| TXT | Verification and policies, including email authentication. |
Look up the answers
On a computer with nslookup available, these read-only examples query a placeholder domain. Replace it with your own domain.
nslookup -type=NS example.com
nslookup -type=A example.com
nslookup -type=MX example.com
nslookup -type=TXT example.comCompare the answers with the settings your service provider supplied. Cached answers can differ temporarily after a change.
Before changing DNS
Save the existing records. A nameserver change affects the whole zone: preserve email, verification and other services as well as the website address. Do not delete TXT or MX records simply because you do not recognise them.
Next, check HTTPS or explore domain registration and transfers.
Further reference: Cloudflare’s DNS record overview.