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DNS Tools

Look up live A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, CNAME, SOA and PTR records for any domain from vPanel, and see why results can differ from the Zone Editor.

Looking up public DNS records from vPanel. Looking up public DNS records from vPanel.

DNS Tools (vPanel → DNS Tools) looks up the DNS records that are live on the public internet, for any domain — not just your own. It is a read-only diagnostic: nothing you do here changes a record. To edit your own records, use the Zone Editor.

Running a lookup

Enter a domain and pick a record type, then Look up. Changing the type in the dropdown submits the form immediately. Results are shown as a table of name, type, TTL and value.

Available types:

TypeWhat it answers
AThe IPv4 address the name points to
AAAAThe IPv6 address
MXWhich mail servers accept mail for the domain, and their priority
TXTText records — SPF, DKIM, DMARC, domain verification tokens
NSThe domain's authoritative nameservers
CNAMEThe name this one is an alias for
SOAThe zone's primary nameserver and serial number
ALLA, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, CNAME and SOA in a single result set
PTRReverse lookup — the hostname an IP address resolves back to

PTR is the odd one out: the input box becomes an IP address field, and anything that is not a valid IP is refused. Every other type expects a domain name, and a malformed name is refused with "Enter a valid domain name".

An empty result table means no record of that type exists. A lookup that fails outright reports that the domain may not exist.

What it is actually querying

Lookups are resolved by the server, using whatever resolver the server is configured with. That has two practical consequences:

  • You see what a client on this server sees, which is normally what the rest of the internet sees, but a cached answer can lag a change you just made.
  • Results can differ from what the Zone Editor shows. The Zone Editor reads records straight from Cloudflare's API; DNS Tools reads what is being served and cached. After adding a record, the Zone Editor shows it instantly while DNS Tools may take until the old TTL expires.

That difference is the tool's main use: it tells you whether a change has actually reached the world yet.

Things it is good for

  • Confirming a domain points here. Look up A for your domain and compare it to your server's IP.
  • Checking mail routing. MX should list mail.<yourdomain> for a domain hosted here.
  • Checking SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Look up TXT on the domain for SPF, on _dmarc for DMARC, and on vanta._domainkey for the DKIM key the panel publishes.
  • Confirming a nameserver change. NS shows which nameservers the registrar is currently handing out — the slowest part of any migration.
  • Checking reverse DNS. A missing or generic PTR for your server's IP is a common reason Gmail rejects mail. Only the provider that owns the IP can set it.
  • Zone Editor — change your own records
  • Email — what the mail records need to contain
  • Troubleshooting — when a lookup says one thing and the browser says another
Last updated Aug 14, 2026 · Need help?