: My DNS zone includes a loopback record - do I need it? My dns zone contains a loopback: localhost IN A 127.0.0.1 Do I need it, and if so why? I can't think of a reason to have it here,

@Eichhorn148

This answer on ServerFault explains what this localhost entry is for serverfault.com/questions/120769/localhost-in-a-dns-zone

localhost.example.com is sometimes included on internal DNS servers to prevent "localhost" requests leaking out to the internet (for the case where John Smith types localhost/ in his browser & for whatever reason his resolver doesn't look in the hosts file, appends his search path (example.com) & starts asking name servers what that resolves to).


It also talks about the possibility that such a DNS record could be use for Cross Site Scripting (XSS) attacks and suggest removing it for that reason.

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@Becky754

Did your DNS undergo testing because a many times loopback entry tests ability to process Web requests without actually sending any messages out. I believe it is not needed.

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