{"id":1899,"date":"2021-05-31T15:35:19","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T12:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/?p=1899"},"modified":"2022-06-05T15:58:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-05T12:58:52","slug":"add-a-cname-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/add-a-cname-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Add a CNAME record"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A CNAME record is a <\/span>DNS record<\/b><\/a> that turns one domain<\/b> (usually a subdomain)<\/span><\/i> into an alias for another. To show you how it works, we’ll look at its most common application \u2013 <\/span>mapping the www. subdomain to the primary domain.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, a user enters<\/span> www.domain.com<\/b> into their browser. The browser sends a request to the DNS resolver and is relayed to the <\/span>Authoritative Name Server<\/b> that hosts domain.com’s DNS zone file. Then, the server responds with the <\/span>stored CNAME record.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The browser understands that it needs to look for domain.com and <\/span>puts together a second DNS request,<\/b> eventually resolving to the correct IP.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s important to make the <\/span>distinction between a CNAME record and a redirect.<\/b> A redirect reroutes the traffic to a predetermined destination. The goal of the CNAME is to lead the user to the<\/span> correct IP address.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can have a<\/span> CNAME record<\/b> for blog.domain.com that points to domain.com, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the two will display the same content. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it is<\/span> configured correctly,<\/b> blog.domain.com will lead users to the server’s IP address, and the web server will serve them the blog section of your website rather than the homepage. CNAME records can be <\/span>very useful in many scenarios.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, suppose all your <\/span>subdomains<\/b><\/a> (blog.domain.com, shop.domain.com, mail.domain.com, ftp.domain.com, etc.)<\/span><\/i> are mapped to domain.com, and domain.com has an <\/span>A record <\/b>pointing it to the server’s IP.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you ever need to <\/span>move the website to a different server,<\/b> all you’ll need to do is change domain.com’s A record. It will save you a lot of time reconfiguring every individual subdomain one by one.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a couple of restrictions you need to bear in mind when setting CNAME records:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n