DNS Record Formatter and Explainer
100% PrivateWebsite & Webmaster ToolsFormat pasted DNS records into a clean table and explain what each record does.
Runs entirely in your browser. Your input is not uploaded to Ovatly or anywhere else.
- 1Paste one or more records, one per line, from dig output or a zone file.
- 2Read each formatted record card: the clean record, a summary, and a field-by-field explanation.
- 3Fix any lines listed under problems; the error says what is wrong with the value.
Input: shop.example.com. 300 IN A 203.0.113.10 Formatted output: shop.example.com. 300 IN A 203.0.113.10, with fields explained: Name is the host the record belongs to, TTL 300s is how long resolvers may cache it, and the IPv4 address is the server the name resolves to. The summary reads: points a name to an IPv4 address, the record a browser follows to reach a web server.
- Supported types: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SOA, SRV, CAA and PTR. Other types are reported as unrecognized rather than guessed at.
- The formatter accepts both dig order (name, TTL, class, type) and zone-file order (name, class, TTL, type), and lines that reuse the previous line's name.
- Explanations are general documentation about how DNS works, not an audit of your domain: this tool never queries live DNS, so it cannot confirm a record is actually published.
No. Live DNS queries need a resolver API, which this page does not call. Paste the output of dig, your registrar's record list, or zone file lines instead.
About this tool
The DNS Record Formatter and Explainer takes pasted DNS records, the kind dig prints or a zone file contains, validates each value (IP addresses, MX preferences, SOA numbers, SRV parts), rewrites the record in one clean format, and explains in plain English what the record type does and what every field means. It is a reading and learning tool for records you already have.
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