DNS lookup
Look up A, AAAA, MX, TXT, CNAME and NS records.
How to use
Enter a domain and choose a record type to see what the public DNS currently answers: A and AAAA for addresses, MX for mail, TXT for verification and policy records, CNAME for aliases and NS for the servers in charge of the zone.
There is no such thing as propagation, despite the word being everywhere. Every answer carries a TTL — how long a resolver may keep it — and old values persist simply because they are still cached. This is why the TTL must be lowered before a change, not after: once a resolver has an answer, nothing you do at the source reaches it until that clock expires.
Example
Looks up the current IPv4 records for example.com. TTL indicates how long a resolver may cache each record; answers can change.
example.com · AThe IPv4 addresses the name currently resolves to.A domain · MXWhich servers accept mail, and in what priority order.A domain · TXTSPF, DKIM policies and the verification strings services ask for.
Frequently asked questions
I changed a record and still see the old value — why?
Something between you and the authoritative server is still holding the previous answer until its TTL runs out. Check the TTL on the record: if it is 86400, a resolver that cached it a minute before your change will keep serving the old value for the rest of the day.
What is the difference between an A record and a CNAME?
An A record points a name at an address; a CNAME points a name at another name. The practical consequence is that a CNAME cannot coexist with other records on the same name, which is why a domain root — the bare example.com, which needs NS and usually MX — normally cannot be a CNAME.
A record or AAAA record?
Same job, different address family: A returns an IPv4 address, AAAA an IPv6 one. A name can have both, and a browser on a dual-stack connection will usually try IPv6 first and fall back within a few hundred milliseconds.