Service Record

What Does Service Record Mean?

A service record (SRV record) is a specification of servers in the Domain Name System by hostname and port number. With an SRV record, it is possible to make a server discoverable and designate high priority and high availability servers using a single domain without having to know the exact address of the servers.

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Techopedia Explains Service Record

A service record is a specification of the Domain Name System that allows services to be discoverable on a network. The format is specified in RFC 2782.

SRV records are entered into the DNS server’s zone configuration file. They consist of the symbolic service name, protocol name, domain name, time to live, class, priority, relative weight compared to other records, the port and the hostname of the machine providing the service.

SRV records are used to make services available on a network, such as SIP for VoIP telephony, without having to know the exact address of a server. With the weight and priority features, administrators can use multiple servers for one domain, with other servers becoming available should the main server fail.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…