PTR record

Reverse DNS: maps an IP address back to a hostname. It lives in the address owner's zone, not yours, so your hosting provider usually sets it.

What one looks like

34.216.184.93.in-addr.arpa.  3600  IN  PTR  example.com.

Things worth knowing

  • Mail servers check that a sending IP has a PTR record matching its hostname; without one, delivery suffers badly.
  • You cannot set it in your own DNS — ask whoever controls the IP block.
  • Forward and reverse should agree: the PTR name should resolve back to the same address.

Look up a PTR record yourself

dig (macOS / Linux)

dig PTR example.com +short

nslookup (any OS)

nslookup -type=PTR example.com

Your resolver may still be serving a cached copy — our propagation checker queries 30+ resolvers worldwide so you can see who already has the new PTR record.

Look up a real PTR record

Query any domain live and see every record type with its TTL.

Run a DNS lookup