Construct Name Record For Free

The A record maps a name to one or more IP addresses when the IP are known and stable. The CNAME record maps a name to another name. It should only be used when there are no other records on that name. The ALIAS record maps a name to another name, but can coexist with other records on that name.

A Records and CNAME An A Record (Address Record) points your domain or subdomain to an IP Address. An A Record will always point to an IP Address. A CNAME (Canonical Name aka Alias) points your domain or subdomain to to the the IP Address of a different domain. CNAME records always point to domain names.

Consider an example root domain techtarget.com. With a CNAME record, a user accessing .techtarget.com is referred to the CNAME techtarget.com. Here's how the DNS resolution process for CNAME records works:The A record translates the domain name techtarget.com into a corresponding IP address.

A "canonical name" (CNAME) record points from an alias domain to a "canonical" domain. A CNAME record is used in lieu of an A record, when a domain or subdomain is an alias of another domain. All CNAME records must point to a domain, never to an IP address.

The CNAME Record is typically used alongside other types of DNS Records - A Records and ALIAS Records. An A Record maps a hostname to one or more IP addresses, while the CNAME record maps a hostname to another hostname.

CNAME records are typically used to map a subdomain such as or mail to the domain hosting that subdomain's content. For example, a CNAME record can map the web address .example.com to the actual web site for the domain example.com.

A CNAME record cannot co-exist with another record for the same name. It's not possible to have both a CNAME and TXT record for .example.com . A CNAME can point to another CNAME, although this configuration is generally not recommended for performance reasons.