What’s a URL Record?
Table of Contents
What’s a URL record?
The URL record is a special DNSimple record. URL records redirect a hostname to another URL using our redirector.
For example, this feature can be used to redirect the www.example.com domain to example.com. It can also redirect a secondary domain you purchased to the main domain without pointing it to any web hosting service.
For more information about the service, supported redirect types, and limitations, visit the redirector article.
URL record format
The URL record is a special record, and it’s not defined by any RFC.
In DNSimple, the URL record is represented by the following customizable elements:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| name | The host name for the record without the domain name. This is generally referred to as “subdomain”. We automatically append the domain name. |
| TTL | The time-to-live in seconds. This is the amount of time the record is allowed to be cached by a resolver. |
| URL | The redirect destination URL. |
DNSimple exposes URL records as standard A and AAAA records. The canonical representation is the same for the A and AAAA records.
When you create a URL record, we automatically configure a set of A and AAAA records to point the source hostname to an instance of our redirector service. When an HTTP client queries the hostname, our redirector service serves an appropriate HTTP request to redirect the client to the target URL you configured in the record editor.
Manage URL records
From the DNSimple record editor you can add, remove, and update URL records.