Do you need IPv6 records in your DNS?
IPv4 addresses are in short supply, and a growing share of mobile and home networks use IPv6, some of them with no IPv4 at all. DNS has two parts that involve IPv6: AAAA records, which give your website or mail server an IPv6 address, and nameservers that can be reached over IPv6.
Why it matters
- No AAAA record: visitors on IPv6-only networks reach your site through a translation layer, or not at all. Everyone else is unaffected, so the cost is quiet and small, but real.
- No IPv6 nameserver: resolvers on IPv6-only networks may be unable to look up your domain. Giving at least one nameserver an IPv6 address removes that risk.
The mistake to avoid
A broken AAAA record is worse than none. If you publish one and your server does not actually answer on that IPv6 address, visitors whose devices prefer IPv6 hit a delay or an error before falling back to IPv4. Only add a AAAA record once you have tested that the address works.
How to add it
- Check whether your host or DNS provider already offers IPv6. Most large ones do.
- Add a AAAA record next to your existing A record for the same name, using the IPv6 address your host gives you.
- Test it from a network with IPv6, for example with
curl -6 https://example.com. - For nameservers, ask your DNS provider whether their servers have IPv6 addresses, and make sure they are listed.
- Run DNSLint and check the IPv6 results for the domain and the nameservers.