Summary
TXT Records are a way to associate text data with a name in DNS. A valid TXT record must have either at least one alias, or value.
Fields
- Name
This is the name of the TXT Record. Once a TXT record has been created, the name cannot be changed.
- Alias
Alias is the alias for the TXT Record and is equivalent to CNAME records in DNS.
- Groups
Only NetDB Users in the same Group as this record or with All Group access can modify or delete this record. User must also have record access to TXT Records. A TXT Record can be in multiple Groups.
- Administrators
Administrators are individual people or Admin Teams that are responsible for this record. Being listed as an Administrator or Admin Team does not give rights to modify a NetDB record. This field indicates the custodian for the name and aliases.
List individuals by using their full names or their SUNet IDs. You can click on Verify to have NetDB check and resolve the names before you try to save the record. If you choose to verify, entries will be checked against the online Stanford directory; if they are not found in the directory or if a name matches multiple people in the directory, an error will occur. If an exact match is found, the person will be returned with a checked box. If multiple matches are found, a list of people and associated departments will be returned unchecked. Check to select the right administrator. The verification process is thus especially useful if you use SUNet IDs since it will show you information about the people connected to the SUNet IDs so you'll know if you entered the right SUNet IDs. Note that the directory lookup looks for matches on SUNet IDs, last name and email address. Note that verification is also done when the record is saved.
An Admin Team is a set of people who are responsible for the name. For example, the Computer Resource Center (CRC) may contract with a department to support their computers. Instead of listing all the people in CRC as administrators, it's simpler to list the CRC Admin Team as an administrator. Admin Teams must be followed by a semicolon when entered as a node administrator (e.g., "CRC;").
If the administrator is not associated with Stanford and does not have a SUNet ID, list Admin Team "OUTSIDE;" as the administrator and add contact information in the Comment field.
- Comment
Useful information can be added here. This field is searchable with Full Search. Only printable characters are valid for comments. The printable character set consists of the alphabet, any numbers, all punctuation and spaces. For example, the carriage return is a non-printable character.
- Value
This is the text data that will be associated with the TXT name.
- Value Administrators
These are the people, and/or Admin Teams, that are responsible for this TXT Value. In some cases, the people responsible for the name are not going to be the same people responsible for a value.
See above for a full description of Administrators.
- Value Comment
Useful information can be added here. This field is searchable with Full Search. Only printable characters are valid for comments. The printable character set consists of the alphabet, any numbers, all punctuation and spaces. For example, the carriage return is a non-printable character.
- Expiration Date
This is an informational field provided for convenience. Setting a TXT record expiration date allows users to use full search to find expired records to delete or update. This can be quite powerful in combination with the full search CSV export format and the NetDB command-line interface. NetDB does not take any action based on the expiration date; it is purely an informational field for users to use as they see fit.