The AAAA record (or quad A record) points your hostname to an IPv6 address. The record AAAA specifies IP address (IPv6) for a given host. In other words, it resolves a domain name (or points the domain name) to the correct location by means of the IPv6 address.
At present days, the DNS AAAA record is not as popular as the A record. Yet, its implementation is rapidly increasing as the adoption of IPv6 is expanding. The trend shows that IPv6 will become the most commonly used IP address version in the future.
The AAAA record has the following look in your ClouDNS Control Panel:
| Host: | Type: | Points to: | TTL |
| hostname.com | AAAA | ipv6:of:your:web::site | 1 Hour |
You need an AAAA record to ensure that your website or online resource can be accessed using IPv6 addresses. IPv4 addresses, the earlier type of IP address, are getting used up, making it vital to evolve to the newer IPv6 addresses.
Let's say you have a website hosted on a server that uses IPv6. You also have purchased a domain name for your site. Now you need to link them. Here is where the AAAA record comes in. It simply maps your domain to your server's IPv6 address.
Go to your Control Panel and click on Add new record. Type, as follow:
Type: AAAA
TTL: 1 Hour
Host:
Points to: ipv6:of:your:web::site
You can manually check the AAAA record for a domain name by using one of the following commands:
If you are a Windows user, you can open the Command Prompt and check your AAAA records via Nslookup. Here is an example:
$ nslookup -type=AAAA example.com
If you are a Linux/macOS user, you can open the Terminal and check your AAAA record via DIG. Here is an illustration:
$ dig domain.net AAAA
These commands will show you the corresponding IPv6 address for the domain. Additionally, if no AAAA record is found for the domain, the response will display it.
If you prefer to use an online tool, you can check your AAAA record with ClouDNS Free DNS tool.
Both records work in the same manner except for one small detail. With A record, the hostname is resolved to the corresponding IPv4 address. And with the AAAA record, the hostname is resolved to the corresponding IPv6 address. If you have doubts about whether to use A or AAAA, the answer is simple. If your server uses IPv6, you need an AAAA record. Otherwise, if it uses IPv4, then A is required.
As we explained above, the AAAA record points your domain to the corresponding IPv6 address. On the other hand, CNAME records (for canonical name) map your hostname to another hostname. This is useful for pointing many hosts to the same place and updating them easily.
ClouDNS provides full support for AAAA records for all our DNS services, including the listed below. Just write to our technical support, if you need any assistance with your AAAA records configuration. Our Technical Support team is online for you 24/7 via live chat and tickets.
Question: Can I have two or even more AAAA records?
Answer: Yes, you can use multiple AAAA records for load-balancing. This way, your AAAA records for the same host will run in a Round-Robin fashion.
Question: Can I have both an A and AAAA records for the same domain?
Answer: Yes, you can. So that the domain can be accessed using either an IPv4 or IPv6 address.
Question: Is it possible to have an AAAA record without an A record?
Answer: Yes, it is. Yet, in practice, it is best to have both so that your website can be accessed using both IPv4 and IPv6 connections.
Question: How long does it take for changes to an AAAA record to take effect?
Answer: Changes to an AAAA record typically take a few minutes to a few hours to take effect, depending on the propagation of the DNS changes across the Internet.