---
id: "soa-record"
kind: "glossary-term"
title: "SOA record"
language: "en"
category: "DNS and technical foundations"
updated: "2026-10-04T14:01:23Z"
canonical: "https://tldlog.com/glossary/soa-record/"
translations:
  es: "https://tldlog.com/es/glosario/registro-soa/"
  de: "https://tldlog.com/de/glossar/soa-record/"
  fr: "https://tldlog.com/fr/glossaire/enregistrement-soa/"
  it: "https://tldlog.com/it/glossario/record-soa/"
  pt-BR: "https://tldlog.com/pt/glossario/registro-soa/"
  ru: "https://tldlog.com/ru/glossariy/zapis-soa/"
  zh-Hans: "https://tldlog.com/zh/cihui/soa-jilu/"
---

# SOA record

Start of Authority

The record at the top of every DNS zone that holds its basic settings: the main name server, a contact address, a serial number that goes up with each change, and timers that tell secondary servers when to refresh. It also sets how long 'not found' answers are kept.

## related terms

- [zone file](https://tldlog.com/glossary/zone-file/)
- [apex domain](https://tldlog.com/glossary/apex-domain/)
- [negative caching](https://tldlog.com/glossary/negative-caching/)
- [zone transfer](https://tldlog.com/glossary/zone-transfer/)
- [primary and secondary servers](https://tldlog.com/glossary/primary-and-secondary-server/)