DNS - host A record VS subdomain

Question

Hi guys!

I have question regarding when to use subdomain and when to use A record under main domain?

e.g. I have main domain ABCD.com. I want to create record EFGH.ABCD.com that points to IP address 1.2.3.4. From my point of view I have to options:

1) Create host A record under main domain ABCD.com that points to the IP address 1.2.3.4 - host (A) record EFGH.ABCD.com=>1.2.3.4

2) Create EFGH as subdomain of main domain ABCD.com and then under that subdomain create host A record (without Name field) that points to IP address 1.2.3.4

If I create EFGH record as subdomain of main domain ABCD.com I can have separate MX, NS, SOA... records but if I create my record as host A record under main domain then MX, NS, SOA records from main domain are used.

The question is when to use records as host A records and when to use it as subdomain of a main domain?

Thanks!

Answer 1

@GK-6729 Hi,

Thank you for posting in Q&A!

The result of these two method is different. I've done tests in my own environment:
If the parent domain named"lab.com", one DNS server(not DC) named"test.lab.com" with the ip address of '1.2.3.4'

Method 1: Creating a A record under 'lab.com'. When the client query for 'test.lab.com', it will get the answer of '1.2.3.4'

Method 2: Creat a subdomain named'test.lab.com'. If you want to add a record under subdomain, all the records would be 'xxx.test.lab.com'. If you want to set the 'test.lab.com' as the DNS server for subdomain, you have to create a delegation under the parent domain.

For more details, please refer to:
https://serverfault.com/questions/619581/adding-a-subdomain-dns-record-in-windows-server

============================================

If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.