List of DNS record types


This list of DNS record types is an overview of resource records permissible in zone files of the Domain Name System. It also contains pseudo-RRs.

Resource records

Other types and pseudo resource records

Other types of records simply provide some types of information, or others return data used in experimental features. The "type" field is also used in the protocol for various operations.
TypeType id.Defining RFCDescriptionFunction
*255All cached recordsReturns all records of all types known to the name server. If the name server does not have any information on the name, the request will be forwarded on. The records returned may not be complete. For example, if there is both an A and an MX for a name, but the name server has only the A record cached, only the A record will be returned. Sometimes referred to as "ANY", for example in Windows nslookup and Wireshark.
AXFR252Authoritative Zone TransferTransfer entire zone file from the master name server to secondary name servers.
IXFR		251RFC 1996Incremental Zone TransferRequests a zone transfer of the given zone but only differences from a previous serial number. This request may be ignored and a full sent in response if the authoritative server is unable to fulfill the request due to configuration or lack of required deltas.
OPT		41RFC 6891OptionThis is a "pseudo DNS record type" needed to support EDNS

Obsolete record types

Progress has rendered some of the originally defined record-types obsolete.
Of the records listed at IANA, some have limited use, for various reasons. Some are marked obsolete in the list, some are for very obscure services, some are for older versions of services, and some have special notes saying they are "not right".
TypeType id.
Defining RFCObsoleted byDescription
MD3RFC 883RFC 973Mail destination and mail forwarder records; MAILA is not an actual record type, but a query type which returns MF and/or MD records. RFC 973 replaced these records with the MX record.
MF4RFC 883RFC 973Mail destination and mail forwarder records; MAILA is not an actual record type, but a query type which returns MF and/or MD records. RFC 973 replaced these records with the MX record.
MAILA254RFC 883RFC 973Mail destination and mail forwarder records; MAILA is not an actual record type, but a query type which returns MF and/or MD records. RFC 973 replaced these records with the MX record.
MB7RFC 883Not formally obsoleted. Unlikely to be ever adopted.MB, MG, MR, and MINFO are records to publish subscriber mailing lists. MAILB is a query code which returns one of those records. The intent was for MB and MG to replace the SMTP VRFY and EXPN commands. MR was to replace the "551 User Not Local" SMTP error. Later, RFC 2505 recommended that both VRFY and EXPN be disabled, making MB and MG unnecessary. They were classified as experimental by RFC 1035.
MG8RFC 883Not formally obsoleted. Unlikely to be ever adopted.MB, MG, MR, and MINFO are records to publish subscriber mailing lists. MAILB is a query code which returns one of those records. The intent was for MB and MG to replace the SMTP VRFY and EXPN commands. MR was to replace the "551 User Not Local" SMTP error. Later, RFC 2505 recommended that both VRFY and EXPN be disabled, making MB and MG unnecessary. They were classified as experimental by RFC 1035.
MR9RFC 883Not formally obsoleted. Unlikely to be ever adopted.MB, MG, MR, and MINFO are records to publish subscriber mailing lists. MAILB is a query code which returns one of those records. The intent was for MB and MG to replace the SMTP VRFY and EXPN commands. MR was to replace the "551 User Not Local" SMTP error. Later, RFC 2505 recommended that both VRFY and EXPN be disabled, making MB and MG unnecessary. They were classified as experimental by RFC 1035.
MINFO14RFC 883Not formally obsoleted. Unlikely to be ever adopted.MB, MG, MR, and MINFO are records to publish subscriber mailing lists. MAILB is a query code which returns one of those records. The intent was for MB and MG to replace the SMTP VRFY and EXPN commands. MR was to replace the "551 User Not Local" SMTP error. Later, RFC 2505 recommended that both VRFY and EXPN be disabled, making MB and MG unnecessary. They were classified as experimental by RFC 1035.
MAILB253RFC 883Not formally obsoleted. Unlikely to be ever adopted.MB, MG, MR, and MINFO are records to publish subscriber mailing lists. MAILB is a query code which returns one of those records. The intent was for MB and MG to replace the SMTP VRFY and EXPN commands. MR was to replace the "551 User Not Local" SMTP error. Later, RFC 2505 recommended that both VRFY and EXPN be disabled, making MB and MG unnecessary. They were classified as experimental by RFC 1035.
WKS11RFC 883, RFC 1035Declared as "not to be relied upon" by RFC 1123.Record to describe well-known services supported by a host. Not used in practice. The current recommendation and practice is to determine whether a service is supported on an IP address by trying to connect to it. SMTP is even prohibited from using WKS records in MX processing.
NB32RFC 1002Mistakes ; the numbers are now assigned to NIMLOC and SRV.
NBSTAT33RFC 1002Mistakes ; the numbers are now assigned to NIMLOC and SRV.
NULL10RFC 883RFC 1035Obsoleted by RFC 1035. RFC 883 defined "completion queries" which used this record. RFC 1035 later reassigned opcode 2 to be "status" and reserved opcode 3.
A638RFC 2874RFC 6563Defined as part of early IPv6 but downgraded to experimental by RFC 3363; later downgraded to historic by RFC 6563.
NXT30RFC 2065RFC 3755Part of the first version of DNSSEC. NXT was obsoleted by DNSSEC updates. At the same time, the domain of applicability for KEY and SIG was also limited to not include DNSSEC use.
KEY25RFC 2065RFC 3755Part of the first version of DNSSEC. NXT was obsoleted by DNSSEC updates. At the same time, the domain of applicability for KEY and SIG was also limited to not include DNSSEC use.
SIG24RFC 2065RFC 3755Part of the first version of DNSSEC. NXT was obsoleted by DNSSEC updates. At the same time, the domain of applicability for KEY and SIG was also limited to not include DNSSEC use.
HINFO13RFC 883Unobsoleted by RFC 8482. Currently used by Cloudflare in response to queries of the type ANY.Record intended to provide information about host CPU type and operating system. It was intended to allow protocols to optimize processing when communicating with similar peers.
RP17RFC 1183RP may be used for certain human-readable information regarding a different contact point for a specific host, subnet, or other domain level label separate than that used in the SOA record.
X2519RFC 1183Not in current use by any notable application
ISDN20RFC 1183Not in current use by any notable application
RT21RFC 1183Not in current use by any notable application
NSAP22RFC 1706Not in current use by any notable application
NSAP-PTR23RFC 1706Not in current use by any notable application
PX26RFC 2163Not in current use by any notable application
EID31Defined by the internet draft, but never made it to RFC status. Not in current use by any notable application
NIMLOC32Defined by the internet draft, but never made it to RFC status. Not in current use by any notable application
ATMA34Defined by The ATM Forum Committee.
APL42RFC 3123Specify lists of address ranges, e.g. in CIDR format, for various address families. Experimental.
SINK40Defined by the internet draft, but never made it to RFC status
GPOS27RFC 1712A more limited early version of the LOC record
UINFO100IANA reserved, no RFC documented them and support was removed from BIND in the early 90s.
UID101IANA reserved, no RFC documented them and support was removed from BIND in the early 90s.
GID102IANA reserved, no RFC documented them and support was removed from BIND in the early 90s.
UNSPEC103IANA reserved, no RFC documented them and support was removed from BIND in the early 90s.
SPF99RFC 4408RFC 7208Specified as part of the Sender Policy Framework protocol as an alternative to storing SPF data in TXT records, using the same format. Support for it was discontinued in RFC 7208 due to widespread lack of support.
NINFO56Used to provide status information about a zone. Requested for the IETF draft "The Zone Status DNS Resource Record" in 2008. Expired without adoption.
RKEY57Used for encryption of NAPTR records. Requested for the IETF draft "The RKEY DNS Resource Record" in 2008. Expired without adoption.
TALINK58Defined by the internet draft, but never made it to RFC status
NID104RFC 6742Not in use by any notable application and marked as "experimental".
L32105RFC 6742Not in use by any notable application and marked as "experimental".
L64106RFC 6742Not in use by any notable application and marked as "experimental".
LP107RFC 6742Not in use by any notable application and marked as "experimental".
DOA259Defined by the internet draft, but never made it to RFC status