Root Domains and Subdomains

A single registered domain can organize many services without registering another domain.

The Zone Apex

For example.dpdns.org, the zone apex is the registered name itself. DNS interfaces often represent it as one of these values:

@
example.dpdns.org
blank name field

Follow the interface's own convention. Do not type the full domain into a field that automatically appends the zone, or you may create a name such as example.dpdns.org.example.dpdns.org.

Common Subdomains

Hostname	Typical purpose
www.example.dpdns.org	Public website
api.example.dpdns.org	Application API
status.example.dpdns.org	Status page
mail.example.dpdns.org	Mail server hostname
dev.example.dpdns.org	Development environment

The purpose is only a naming convention. DNS does not know that www is a website or mail is a mail server.

Root and www

A common website arrangement is:

example.dpdns.org      A       192.0.2.10
www.example.dpdns.org  CNAME   example.dpdns.org

The web server must still be configured to accept both hostnames. DNS alone does not create an HTTP redirect between them.

Choose one canonical public hostname and redirect the other at the web server. This keeps links and analytics consistent.

Wildcard Records

A wildcard such as *.example.dpdns.org can answer for names that do not otherwise exist.

Name:  *
Type:  A
Value: 192.0.2.10

Wildcards can hide typing mistakes and unintentionally route unknown names to a service. Prefer explicit records unless the application genuinely creates subdomains dynamically.

Delegating a Subdomain

A subdomain can become its own DNS zone by adding NS records at the parent:

Name:  team
Type:  NS
Value: ns1.team-dns.example

After delegation, the child nameservers control records below team.example.dpdns.org. Do not keep conflicting records for the delegated name in the parent zone.

Naming Guidelines

• Use lowercase letters when documenting hostnames.
• Keep names short and descriptive.
• Avoid exposing internal project codenames.
• Do not encode credentials, customer data, or secrets in hostnames.
• Separate production and test services clearly.

Verify Each Name

dig A example.dpdns.org
dig CNAME www.example.dpdns.org
dig NS team.example.dpdns.org

Continue to TTL, Caching, and Propagation.