220-1101 Question 113
Single answerText (TXT)A technician is helping a small business move email to a cloud provider. The provider's setup wizard says the company must prove ownership of the domain by adding a TXT record in public DNS. After the technician signs in to the DNS host, which action should they take to complete the verification requirement?
- A
Create a TXT record for the domain and paste the verification string supplied by the provider into the record's value field
- B
Create an MX record pointing to the cloud provider's mail server and wait for mail flow to confirm ownership
- C
Create an A record that maps the domain name to the provider's public IP address
- D
Create a CNAME record that aliases the root domain to the provider's verification hostname
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
TXT records are DNS records designed to store arbitrary text and are widely used for domain verification, as well as technologies such as SPF, DKIM-related publishing practices, and other service-validation tasks. In this scenario, the provider has explicitly requested a TXT record containing a verification string, so the technician should add that exact TXT value in the DNS zone for the domain. MX records are for mail routing, A records are for hostname-to-IPv4 mapping, and CNAME records are for aliases. Following the provider's published setup instructions and allowing time for DNS propagation are standard best practices. This aligns with practical CompTIA A+ Core 1 expectations around identifying common DNS record types and applying them appropriately in support scenarios.
- A. Correct.
Correct. A TXT record is commonly used for domain verification because it allows the domain owner to publish a provider-supplied text token in DNS. The provider then queries public DNS for that exact value to confirm control of the domain. This is a common real-world task when setting up cloud email, security services, and SaaS platforms.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. An MX record identifies which mail server handles email for a domain; it does not by itself prove domain ownership for a verification workflow. Someone might choose this because MX records are associated with email configuration, but the scenario specifically says the provider requires a TXT record for verification.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. An A record maps a hostname to an IPv4 address. It is used for name resolution to a host, not for publishing a text verification token. This distractor reflects a common confusion between DNS records used for addressing and records used for validation.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A CNAME record creates an alias from one hostname to another. Some vendors do support CNAME-based validation for certain services, but the scenario explicitly requires a TXT record. Also, aliasing the root domain is often restricted depending on the DNS provider.