What’s the difference between authoritative and recursive DNS?
Two types of DNS servers work together:
Authoritative DNS: Servers that hold the official records for a domain. When you update DNS, you update authoritative servers. They are the source of truth.
Recursive DNS: Servers that look up records on behalf of clients. They query authoritative servers, cache results, and return answers. They do not store original records.
When you change a DNS record, authoritative servers update immediately. Recursive servers may serve cached data until TTL expires.
Most users interact with recursive DNS. Domain owners manage authoritative DNS.
Authoritative DNS is the official registry. Recursive DNS is the clerk who looks things up and remembers recent answers.
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