ServerBrief

Learning path

Understand DNS

Six short guides that take you from “what is DNS” to setting up records with confidence. About 45 minutes in total.

Glowing ends of a fibre optic bundle

Work through these in order. Each one assumes you have read the one before.

  1. How DNS works What happens between typing a name and reaching a server.
  2. DNS record types explained A, AAAA, CNAME, MX and TXT, and what each one is for.
  3. What is a nameserver? Who holds your records, and what changes when you switch.
  4. How to point a domain to a server Your first real change.
  5. What is DNS propagation? Why that change reaches people at different times.
  6. How to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC The records that make your email trusted.

Stuck on a lookup that fails? See DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN.