What Is A PTR Record & How To Add PTR Record?

What Is A PTR Record?

A PTR record is the type of DNS resource record that query Ip address and maps the hostname and domain name. Rather than an A record, which maps a hostname into an IP address, it is the opposite, and it is typically used for IP address-to-hostname resolution as well as, of course, the famously known reverse DNS lookup.

PTR records are essential for various purposes, including:

- Email Reputation and Spam Prevention: Some email servers check out reverse DNS or whole MX record to make sure that the IP address of the sending sever is authentic. Moreover, if the authenticating information through the PTR record is not connected properly to the sending server's host name or domain, the mail may be considered as spam or it may get declined.

- Network Troubleshooting and Diagnostics: Network administrators frequently utilize PTR (Pointer) records in order to uncover and then fix networks devices as well as servers, including their IP addresses.

- Logging and Auditing: PTR record offers a way to track down the source of the incoming traffic or discover the hostname associated with an IP address recorded in log files.

- Geo-location Services: Some geo-location services exploit the inherent majorization as one of the PTR records denominating an IP address according to its hostname or domain name.

PRTR records are deployed in the region of IP address range in the zone name of reverse DNS. Another example is the inverse DNS zone ranged 1.168.192.in-addr.arpa for IP address block, 192.168.1.0/24. Every PTR record is responsible for the association of one particular IP address to a particular host name, or to a domain name in this case (e.g., this IP would be 192.168.1.10 and this domain name would be server.example.com).

How To Add PTR Record?

The technique for completing a PTR record will vary based upon your provider for Domain Name System (DNS) or a hosting environment you are in. Here are the general steps to add a PTR record:Here are the general steps to add a PTR record:

1. Determine the IP Address: Secondly, after finding the IP Address of the machine which you desire to set a PTR record for. This may be dynamic IP address of your server, network device or any similar device for that matter.

2. Find the Reverse DNS Zone: After the IP address, also follows the reverse DNS zone where you are supposed to get the canonical domain name. The zone for reverse DNS operation is defined according to the IP address range and all its components appear in the following form.

Explanation, if your IP address is 192.168.1.10 then a part of your domain name which does a reverse lookup on an IP-address, the zone would be 1.168.192.in-addr.arpa.

3. Contact Your DNS Provider or Hosting Company: Generally, users don't get the opportunity to edit forward DNS zones themselves directly because the necessary tools and access to such zone editing are not within their technical capabilities. Hereupon, you need to submit a request to your DNS provider or one that has hosted your site and ask them to create or update the PTR record of your IP address.

Provide them with the following information:

- The IP address for which you want to create the PTR record.

- The desired hostname or domain name that should be associated with the IP address.

Your DNS provider or hosting company will then create or update the PTR record in the appropriate reverse DNS zone.

4. Manage PTR Records Yourself (If Applicable): Specifically, if you manage you DNS records by direct access instead of using a third party or delegating to a cloud hosting provider, it is possible to create or update the PTR record yourself. For example in an enterprise scenario or when using the self-managed DNS server.

The exact steps may vary depending on your DNS management interface or tool, but generally, you need to:The order of the actions may be slightly different depending on the DNS controller or tool you use but they often require:

- Access the reverse DNS zone for your IP address range.

- Check whether the IP address has the PTR record or create a new one if there is no previous record available.

- Identify the appropriate hostname or domain name and establish the PTR record using the mapped IP address.

- Save the changes and allow time for the DNS propagation to occur.

5. Verify the PTR Record: After adding or updating the PTR record, you can verify its existence and accuracy using various tools or commands, such as:

- Online reverse DNS lookup tools

- Command-line tools like nslookup or dig (for Unix-based systems)

- PowerShell commands such as Resolve-DnsName (for Windows machines) would also be helpful.

By employing these tools, they will perform a forward DNS lookup associated with your IP address and subsequently display the consequent hostname that corresponds to the PTR record.

Note that PTR records are managed by the organization or entity managing the IP addresses which is assigned to that range of addresses. If you are on a shared provider using a dedicated IP or residential ISP service, you may not have direct ability to do PTR records creation or modification.

Besides the fact that PTR records are memorized by DNS servers, it is possible that you might have to wait for the updates to go through (usually, 24-48 hours) in order for them to be visible to everybody on the internet.

Correct handling PTR records is of central importance in maintaining a good email reputation, on the one hand, while on the other, speeds up the network troubleshooting and the accuracy of logging and auditing. The walk along the path is hassle-free after your service provider and the hosting agency have put in place the PTR record’s parameters and it creatively aligns with your system.