GTA 6 Server Domain and DNS Setup

DNS feels like plumbing: you do not think about it until something breaks. Getting it right once saves you from broken launches, lost connections, and 3-hour propagation waits during emergencies.

The records you actually need

• A record: points your domain to the server IPv4. Required.
• AAAA record: same for IPv6. Optional but increasingly useful.
• SRV record: points game clients to the right port. Optional but convenient.
• TXT records: for Discord verification, SPF if you send email.

TTL strategy

TTL (time to live) controls how long ISPs cache your DNS records. Too high and a change takes 24 hours to propagate. Too low and you hammer the DNS server.

• Stable production record: 3600 seconds (1 hour) is reasonable.
• Before a planned migration: drop to 300 seconds (5 minutes) 48 hours in advance.
• During migration: switch records, propagation takes 5 minutes.
• After migration: raise back to 3600.

This is the single most common DNS mistake: not lowering TTL before migration.

Cloudflare as a DNS host

Free, fast, and supports all the records you need. Set up:

1. Transfer DNS to Cloudflare.
2. For your game server record, set to DNS-only (grey cloud), not proxied. Cloudflare cannot proxy UDP game traffic.
3. For your website or panel, proxy-enabled (orange cloud) is fine.
4. Enable DNSSEC for security.

SRV records for game convenience

An SRV record lets players connect with just your domain instead of domain:port. Saves them one step. Supported for FiveM today, likely for any GTA 6 multiplayer stack based on that precedent.

_fivem._tcp.example.com. 3600 IN SRV 10 10 30120 server.example.com.

Then players connect with just "example.com" instead of "server.example.com:30120".

Common DNS mistakes

• Proxying UDP traffic through Cloudflare. Will not work.
• High TTL before migration. 24 hours of player confusion.
• Forgetting subdomain records. Your map.example.com does not automatically point anywhere.
• Not setting CAA records. Not critical, but best practice.

Related reading

For the migration side, see our migration guide. For the launch-day checklist which includes DNS verification, read the launch-day checklist. For Discord-side integration, see the Discord integration guide.