How to Check IPv6 (AAAA) Records for Your Domain
AAAA records are the IPv6 equivalent of A records. They map a domain name to a 128-bit IPv6 address, enabling clients on IPv6 networks to reach your server directly. With IPv6 adoption growing steadily and major providers like Google, Cloudflare, and Facebook fully supporting it, having proper AAAA records is increasingly important for performance and reachability. This guide shows you how to check, create, and troubleshoot AAAA records.
Look up your AAAA records instantly
Use our free AAAA Lookup tool to check whether your domain has IPv6 records and verify they resolve correctly.
Step 1: Query Your AAAA Records
Use dig to look up the AAAA records for your domain:
dig example.com AAAA +shortIf the query returns an IPv6 address (e.g., 2606:4700:3030::6815:1234), your domain has an AAAA record. If it returns empty, no IPv6 record exists. Compare this with your A record to confirm dual-stack is configured:
dig example.com A +short
dig example.com AAAA +shortStep 2: Verify IPv6 Connectivity
Having an AAAA record is not enough. You must verify that the IPv6 address actually accepts connections. Test with curl:
curl -6 -I https://example.comIf this times out but curl -4 works, your server is not listening on its IPv6 interface. Check your firewall rules and web server bind addresses to ensure IPv6 traffic is allowed on ports 80 and 443.
Step 3: Add or Update AAAA Records
Log in to your DNS provider and create an AAAA record. Set the host to @ for the root domain or the subdomain name. Enter your server's IPv6 address as the value. Set a reasonable TTL (3600 seconds is standard). If you use a CDN like Cloudflare, the AAAA record is often managed automatically when you proxy the domain.
Step 4: Check Mail Server IPv6 Records
If your mail server has AAAA records, receiving servers may try to deliver email over IPv6. Ensure your mail server's IPv6 address has a matching reverse DNS (PTR) record, as many spam filters reject mail from IPv6 addresses without reverse DNS. Use the MX Lookup tool to check your mail exchange records and the Reverse DNS Lookup tool to verify PTR records for both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
Step 5: Monitor and Validate
After publishing AAAA records, allow time for DNS propagation and then re-check with the AAAA Lookup tool. Test from multiple geographic locations to confirm global propagation. Monitor your server logs for IPv6 connection errors in the first few days after enabling it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need AAAA records if I already have A records?
A records are sufficient for IPv4 connectivity, but adding AAAA records enables IPv6 access. With over 40 percent of global internet traffic now using IPv6, adding AAAA records improves reachability, especially for mobile users and users in IPv6-heavy regions.
What does an AAAA record look like?
An AAAA record maps a hostname to a 128-bit IPv6 address. For example: example.com AAAA 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334. The address uses eight groups of four hexadecimal digits separated by colons.
Can having AAAA records without proper IPv6 connectivity cause problems?
Yes. If you publish AAAA records but your server does not actually accept IPv6 connections, clients that prefer IPv6 will experience timeouts before falling back to IPv4. This adds latency and can appear as intermittent connectivity issues.