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AAAA record

As explained in Acing the CCNA Exam: Volume 2 Advanced Networking and Security

An AAAA record is a DNS record that maps a domain name to an IPv6 address.

An AAAA (quad-A) record maps a domain name to an IPv6 address. It parallels an A record, which maps a domain name to an IPv4 address; the name reflects IPv6 addresses being four times the length of IPv4 addresses. section 3.1.5

Table 3.1 DNS record types (view table figure)

Record type

Description

Example

A

Points to an IPv4 address

example.com -> 192.0.2.1

AAAA

Points to an IPv6 address

example.com -> 2001:db8::1

CNAME

Points to another domain name

www.example.com -> example.com

MX

Specifies the domain’s mail server(s)

example.com -> mail1.example.com

NS

Specifies the domain’s authoritative DNS server(s)

example.com -> ns1.example.com

PTR

Used for reverse DNS lookups, mapping an IP address back to a domain name

192.0.2.1 -> example.com

SOA

Provides administrative information such as admin contact details, a serial number, etc.

example.com -> Admin: admin.example.com; Serial: 123456789; etc.

Use the DNS record table to compare an AAAA mapping such as example.com -> 2001:db8::1 with A, CNAME, MX, NS, PTR, and SOA records. section 3.1.5

How Acing the CCNA Exam: Volume 2 Advanced Networking and Security covers it

How deep it goes
Defines the mapping and naming rationale, but does not cover configuration, verification, or troubleshooting procedures.
Examples
Uses example.com -> 2001:db8::1 as a representative AAAA mapping.
What you can do after
Evaluate DNS records by distinguishing IPv6 mappings from IPv4 A-record mappings.
How it connects
Contrasts with A records and belongs to the DNS record family alongside CNAME, MX, NS, PTR, and SOA records.

Related concepts

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Acing the CCNA Exam: Volume 2 Advanced Networking and Security. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.