I have the following data in my DNS zone file for my domain:
$ORIGIN mydomain.com.
@ IN A 208.X.Y.Z
mail IN A 208.X.Y.Z
... etc..
What does the @ line mean? I know what an A record is.. but a host with an ampersand at sign?
Source : Server Fault?)
RFC 1035 defines the format of a DNS zone file.
… on page 35 you’ll find:
@ A free standing @ is
used to denote the current origin.
This means that @ is a shortcut for the name defined with $ORIGIN.
You can find more information on $ORIGIN here, which is an excerpt from Pro DNS and BIND, published by Apress.