Last reviewed by Netlify Support - June, 2024
short answer
The DNS record types of NETLIFY and NETLIFYv6 are special “alias” records within Netlify DNS. They will return the IP addresses for the closest CDN nodes based on the IP address of the system making the DNS lookup.
dns_api example.com- example.com 400 - link exists, all config must be empty
Are you seeing an error like this one?
This error occurs when you try to create an A or AAAA type DNS record, and there is a conflicting NETLIFY or NETLIFYv6 type record.
Before you can create the A or AAAA record, you must first delete the NETLIFY or NETLIFYv6 record. Once these records are deleted, you can create the A or AAAA record without errors.
Note: Deleting the NETLIFY (and NETLIFYv6) type records will take the site offline at Netlify. However, if you are creating the A record to move the domain to another service, this is the correct step.
Two Important Facts About NETLIFY and NETLIFYv6 Type Records:
- Connection to IP Addresses:
- These records only connect domain names to IP addresses.
- They do not control which site the domain name is linked to (if any).
- NETLIFYv6 Records:
- You will only have NETLIFYv6 records if you enabled IPv6 support for your domain. For simplicity, we will refer to both as “NETLIFY type records” going forward.
Note, you will only have NETLIFYv6 records if you enabled IPv6 support for your domain - something which is optional. Going forward in this guide, I’m going to just call them “NETLIFY type records” but, when I write this, I mean both “NETLIFY and NETLIFYv6 type records”.
Key Details:
- Domain Name Connection:
- NETLIFY type records return an IPv4 address.
- NETLIFYv6 records return an IPv6 address.
- Multiple IP addresses may be returned if repeated requests are made, pointing to different CDN nodes. This is normal and expected behavior.
- Site Control:
- The value shown in the DNS record is cosmetic and shows the name of the first site the domain was linked to.
- This value does not change if the domain is moved to a new site or if the original site is deleted.
Note: Even if you delete the domain from all sites, the NETLIFY type records will still exist, showing the original site name. This is purely cosmetic and does not affect functionality.
How do I change the name in the NETLIFY type DNS records?
If you really want to change the name in the record the workflow to do so is this:
- Remove the domain name(s) you want to change from the site’s production domain settings (under Site Name > Settings > Domain management > Production domains).
- Delete the NETLIFY (and possibly the NETLIFYv6) type record(s) you want to change from the DNS zone.
- Add the domain name(s) back to the site’s production domain setting.
Note, this will take the site will be offline from step 1 until step 3 is completed.
Again, though, no one but you (or other team members) will ever see that value in the NETLIFY UI and if you don’t change it things will still work correctly. You can leave it as is safely as long as your site is working - there is no requirement to update it!
If I deleted a NETLIFY type DNS record by mistake, how do I recreate it?
If you want to recreating missing NETLIFY type DNS records the process is similar to the workflow above:
- Remove the domain names for the missing NETLIFY type records from the site.
- Add the domain names back to the site’s production domain settings again.
It is the adding of the domain names to the site which will recreate the missing records if they do not already exist.
What does control which site is shown for a domain name?
Finally, I want to answer a question some of you might have, which is:
- What does control which site is shown for a domain name?
The setting which controls the site shown for a specific domain name is in the site settings, not the DNS settings. It is the setting: Site Name > Settings > Domain management > Production domains. This is known as the “production domain” setting for the site.
So, for a domain to point to a site, there are two requirements:
- The domain name must point to an IP address at Netlify (which is what these NETLIFY records do).
- The domain name must be added as a “production domain” under the site settings.
The site shown for a domain name is controlled completely by the site production domain setting and not the DNS records. Again, the DNS records point to IP addresses and nothing else.
Summary
I hope this clarifies the (admittedly confusing) details about the NETLIFY type DNS records. The DNS records only point to IP addresses that Netlify uses for our CDN. It is the site setting that controls what site we show for a domain, not the DNS records.
UPDATE: These records used to be locked and required assistance from our support team to unlock. However, this changed in January of 2021. You can now delete these records at any time without needing to request them to be unlocked.
For detailed information, refer to the Netlify DNS documentation.
