How to Manage Your DNS Records in SiteGround
Table of Contents
SiteGround users can enjoy our sophisticated centralized DNS system, which grants them complete control and flexibility of DNS management.
This guide will go through the entire process of adding, editing, and managing the DNS records of domains using SiteGround nameservers.
How to access your DNS zone editor
To add, edit, or delete your domain’s DNS records, follow these steps.
- Go to your Client Area > Services > Domains.
- Press the Settings button of the chosen domain. You can choose between your domains registered by SiteGround and domains registered by other companies that you use for websites in your SiteGround account.
- On the next page, select DNS Zone Editor.
How to create a new DNS record
Inside the DNS Zone Editor, you can create DNS records following the steps below.
- Navigate to the Create New Record section.
- Click the tab corresponding to the type of record you wish to create. It can be an A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, SRV, or TXT record.
- Then, fill in the required information and click Create.
How to edit an existing DNS record
You can edit existing DNS records in your domain’s DNS Zone Editor.
- Go to your Client Area > Services > Domains.
- Click on the Settings button of the domain you want to edit.
- Navigate to the DNS Zone Editor > Manage DNS Records section.
- Click the pencil (Edit) icon to edit the selected DNS record.
- Apply the required changes in the pop-up window that appears and click Confirm.
How to delete a DNS record
To delete DNS records that you no longer need, execute the following steps.
- Go to your Client Area > Services > Domains.
- Open the Settings page of the chosen domain.
- Navigate to DNS Zone Editor > Manage DNS Records.
- Click on the Delete (Trash bin) icon of the domain you wish to delete.
- In the following pop-up window, press the Confirm button.
How to reset your DNS records
You can only reset individual records to their default values by editing them. Click the pencil icon next to the record you wish to reset, and then adjust the values to the previous default values. If you’re unsure of the default values that were initially configured with your hosting account, you can contact our support team for assistance.
TTL (time to live) setting for DNS records
In the required information for all record types, there is a drop-down menu called Cache duration setting (TTL). It indicates the time DNS servers store the respective record in the cache.
For the automatically created default records, we have set this value to what we believe is most efficient. When you create a new record, you may set it to whatever value you believe is ok. If you are not sure, 1 hour is a good choice.
A record settings
The A record specifies the IP addresses from IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4) corresponding to your domain and its subdomains. By default, this is your site IP address with us.
If you want to edit an A record so that part of your site points to another server, you need to know the IPv4 address of this server and insert it in the corresponding field.
AAAA record settings
The AAAA record specifies the IP addresses from IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) corresponding to your domain and its subdomains.
If you want to add or edit an AAAA record, you need to add the IPv6 address you wish to use.
CNAME record settings
The CNAME record maps a domain to the server of another domain/hostname. The destination value of a CNAME is a hostname that serves as an alias to its IP address.
A valid domain/host should be provided as a destination for the CNAME record, as it does not accept IP addresses.
MX record settings
The MX record specifies where the emails for your domain should be delivered.
You may have multiple delivery options that can be prioritized with the help of the priority setting. This means that the initial delivery attempt will go to the destination with the lowest priority and, if not successful, will try the next one.
When creating a new MX record, you are presented with three preset options:
- Switch to Google MX records – sets the MX records for Google Workspace.
- Switch to system default MX records – sets the MX records for our own email service.
- Add your own MX records – lets you set custom MX records for any email service.
SRV record settings
An SRV record (Service Record) specifies the location, i.e., the hostname and port number, of servers for specified services. To set it up, you need to provide the following values:
- Service – the name of the service, without underscore;
- Protocol – the protocol of the service (usually TCP or UDP);
- TTL – time to live;
- Priority – lower values mean more preferred;
- Weight – used for records with the same priority (higher value means more preferred);
- Port – the number of the port;
- Target – the hostname of the machine where the service is running.
TXT record settings
The TXT records are used to store text-based information related to your domain. They may be needed for domain ownership verification and are also commonly used for storing SPF and DKIM data also needed for email spoofing prevention.
