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Welcome to the Public DNS section. This article explains how Azure DNS manages public domain names so your services are discoverable across the Internet. Learn how Azure acts as the authoritative service for your domain, the common DNS record types you’ll use, and the operational benefits of hosting public DNS zones in Azure. How Azure public DNS resolution works When a user types a domain such as www.kodekloud.com into a browser, a DNS resolution process begins. The user’s device typically queries a recursive resolver (for example, an ISP resolver), which then asks the authoritative name servers for the domain. If Azure DNS hosts your zone, Azure’s authoritative name servers receive the query and return the IP address—allowing the browser to connect to the service. The diagram below visualizes this end-to-end process, showing multiple Azure name servers for redundancy and high availability. In this example, one name server responds with the correct IPv4 address 172.67.68.105, enabling access to the Azure-hosted service.
The image illustrates the process of a DNS query, showing how a domain name request is resolved through various name servers to generate an IP address response. It includes explanations of A/AAAA and CNAME record types.
Why DNS matters DNS (Domain Name System) translates human-friendly domain names into numeric IP addresses that computers understand. Without DNS, users would need to memorize and enter IP addresses for every website and service. Using Azure DNS lets you centrally manage how your application hostnames resolve on the public Internet. Common DNS record types Below are the most frequently used public DNS record types and when to use them. Example: Create a public A record using Azure CLI
Benefits of using Azure DNS
  • Low latency: Azure DNS is globally distributed, serving queries from locations close to the requester to reduce response times.
  • High availability: Each DNS zone gets multiple authoritative name servers to maintain resolution availability even if some servers are unreachable.
  • Fully managed: Microsoft operates the DNS infrastructure, removing the need to deploy or maintain public DNS servers.
  • Reliability and resiliency: Public DNS zones in Azure benefit from Microsoft’s global network, redundancy, and operational practices.
The image illustrates the benefits of Public DNS, showing a query process through multiple name servers resulting in a response, highlighting low latency, high availability, and fully managed infrastructure.
Azure DNS provides authoritative DNS hosting but does not register domain names. Register your domain with a domain registrar, then configure the registrar’s name server settings to use the Azure DNS name servers for your zone.
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