Check DNS TXT Records

A TXT record is a DNS record that maps a domain name to a string of text. For example, the dnscheck.co TXT record maps to "v=spf1 include:windserve.com include:mattrideout.com include:spf.mandrillapp.com -all".

TXT records are also called "text records," and are defined in RFC 1035.

DNS Check can monitor your TXT records, and notify you if they become unresolvable, or have a change in contents. For example, if your SPF record has a range of IP addresses added or deleted, DNS Check will automatically detect the change the next time it performs a lookup on that SPF record.

Fields

Here are the fields that make up a TXT record:

SPF Records

The most commonly used type of TXT record is an SPF record, which is used to specify which IP addresses are authorized to send email on behalf of a domain name. An SPF record is used as an example in the next section.

DNS Zone File Examples

Here's an example of how a TXT record which uses the example values from this page's Fields section looks in a DNS zone file:

; Name           Type  Value
dnscheck.co.     TXT   "v=spf1 include:windserve.com include:mattrideout.com include:spf.mandrillapp.com -all"

The Name ends in a period in the above example, so it's a fully qualified domain name.

Alternatively, you can create a TXT record that's relative to the zone file's $ORIGIN. Here's an example of how to do this using the example values from this page's Fields section:

$ORIGIN dnscheck.co.
; Name           Type  Value
@                TXT   "v=spf1 include:windserve.com include:mattrideout.com include:spf.mandrillapp.com -all"

Additional Resources

• RFC 1035 - section 3.3.14 (TXT RDATA format) defines the format that TXT records follow.

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