How to add PTR record in Cloudflare is no longer a major concern. Here are the simplest steps for doing so.

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Let’s look more closely at how our Support team added PTR records to Cloudflare and explained what they were.

How to add PTR record in Cloudflare ?

Domain names and IP addresses are related by the DNS, or Domain Name System. The domain name connected to an IP address is given by a DNS pointer record, or PTR. The ‘A’ record, which gives the IP address connected to a domain name, is the exact opposite of a DNS PTR record.

Reverse DNS lookups make use of DNS PTR records. A DNS lookup happens when a user types in a domain name to access it in their browser, matching the domain name to the IP address. In contrast, a reverse DNS lookup is a request that starts with an IP address and looks up a domain name.

How are PTR records for DNS stored?

DNS PTR records are stored under the IP address, reversed, with “.in-addr.arpa” added, as opposed to DNS A records, which are stored under the specified domain name. For example, “255.1.0.194.in-addr.arpa” would contain the PTR record for the IP address 194.0.1.255.

The .arpa top-level domain, which was the first top-level domain name defined for the Internet, is a domain used primarily for managing network infrastructure; therefore, “in-addr.arpa” must be added. For IPv4 reverse DNS lookups, the namespace within the .arpa domain is known as in-addr.arpa.

Main uses for PTR records.

Reverse DNS lookups make use of PTR records. Reverse DNS is frequently used for:

Anti-spam : Reverse DNS is a technique used by some email anti-spam filters to examine the domain names of email addresses and determine whether the associated IP addresses are likely to be used by reliable email servers.

Resolving problems with email delivery : Email delivery issues may arise from a misconfigured or absent PTR record because anti-spam filters carry out these checks. Email services may block all emails from a domain if it doesn’t have a PTR record or if the PTR record contains the incorrect domain.

Logging : System logs frequently only contain IP addresses; however, a reverse DNS lookup can transform these into domain names to produce logs that are easier for humans to understand.

Steps to add PTR record.

We must add a PTR record for forward resolution and a reverse DNS zone before we can use PTR records:

1. Firstly, in the enterprise account, click Add site.
2. We use the reverse IP address as the site name:

   Example:

   IP prefix: <octet1>.<octet2>.<octet3>.0/24
   Reverse zone address: <octet3>.<octet2>.<octet1>.in-addr.arpa
3. Select the Free plan if we are only adding 200 PTR records. Pick a paid plan if there are additional additions.
4. Then, skip the remaining steps of the onboarding process.
5. Once onboarding is complete, go to DNS.
6. Add a PTR record with the least significant octet(s) as the subdomain for each IP in the prefix.
7. Add the two Cloudflare nameservers offered for the zone at the Regional Internet Registry (RIR).

The reverse zone will be activated following this procedure, enabling reverse DNS lookups.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, Our Support team has talked about PTR records and the procedures for adding PTR records in Cloudflare.