PTR Record Checker

What is a PTR DNS Record?

A DNS Pointer Record (PTR Record) is a type of DNS record stored in a DNS file. It acts as a "pointer" and associates a domain name with a given IP address. Simply put, it is the exact opposite of an "A" record, which provides the IP address associated with a domain name.

What Does a PTR Record do & What is it Used For?

A PTR record is used to perform a reverse DNS lookup. A reverse DNS lookup will try to look up the domain name associated with a given IP address (opposite of a forward DNS lookup). PTR records are mainly used in email services.

For example, when you receive an email, the email client will perform a reverse DNS lookup using the PTR record to determine its validity. If the lookup returns a valid domain, the email will be sent to your inbox or spam.

What Does a PTR Record Look Like?

PTR records are stored under the IP address in a reversed format. For example, if your IP address is 192.0.2.255, it would be reversed as 255.2.0.192. The reverse DNS lookup - ".in-addr.arpa" is also appended to the reversed IP.

Your final PTR record for 192.0.2.255 would be stored as "255.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa", along with a TTL and a domain associated with this IP address.

How to Check PTR Records Using This Tool

To check for PTR records:

1. Provide the domain name or the IP address you wish to check the PTR records.
2. Click "Check PTR".
3. If the tool can find PTR records for the given IP address, it will display them. If not, it will display an error message.

FAQ

Are PTR records necessary?

No, it is not necessary to have a PTR record. However, it is recommended that you include PTR records to ensure that third-party software, such as email clients, don't send your messages to spam or reject them entirely.

Are PTR records automatically created?

If your DNS host uses a Dynamic DNS, your PTR records will get created automatically. If not, you will have to make your PTS records manually.

Who controls the PTR record?

The PTR record will be managed by the company that assigned you your IP address.

What's the difference between an A record and a PTR record?

The main difference between an A and PTR record is that an A record will associate an IP address to a given domain name while a PTR record associates a domain name to a given IP address.

Therefore, an A record helps perform forward DNS lookup (looking up the IP address associated with the domain). In contrast, the PTR record helps in reverse DNS lookups (looking up the domain name associated with the IP address).

Where do I put the PTR record?

In services like Route53, you would put the PTR record in your DNS Zone. You can create a record of type "PTR" and associate a domain to the required IP address.

My PTR record is not being created automatically. What should I do?

Try waiting for 24 to 48 hours. DNS records usually take around a day or two to propagate and create. If no record is created after 48 hours, you may have to contact your DNS/IP provider, as the process of manually creating a PTR record may differ across vendors.

Are PTR records still used?

Yes, PTR records are widely used to help prevent email clients from rejecting your emails and for other security and verification purposes.

How long does it take for a PTR record to propagate?

There is no set period for PTR record propagation. It depends on the TTL set to the DNS Record.