Should I use CNAME or A record?

General rules: Use an A record if you manage which IP addresses are assigned to a particular machine, or if the IP are fixed (this is the most common case). Use a CNAME record if you want to alias one name to another name, and you don’t need other records (such as MX records for emails) for the same name.

Are Cnames bad?

The impact of using CNAME is in most cases very low. The DNS response format allows the server to put some additional data in the message, and in many situation when you look up CNAME record, the server will add the corresponding A record in the additional data section, so no more look ups are required.

Why do I need a CNAME?

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

Can a CNAME record be used for a subdomain?

Should you ever need to change servers for any reason, this kind of records is the perfect one. You CAN’T use a CNAME record if there are other records on the same name. You CAN’T create a CNAME record for a root domain name. You CAN use CNAME for subdomains on the same server. Using CNAME for subdomains is easy and straight-forward.

Do you need a CNAME or an a-record?

CNAME and A-records are BOTH a type of subdomain. The only difference is how it’s resolved. The only benefit of using CNAME records, is that if you have a lot of subdomains pointing to one IP, you don’t have to update them all manually if the IP changes, rather you update the record that the CNAME records point to.

What does CNAME stand for in Domain Name System?

CNAME is an acronym for “Canonical Name Record”. It’s considered to be the perfect way to point a domain o a sub-domain to your hosting server. This particular type of record links a name to another name on a server. And it never works for an IP address.

Can you change the CNAME of a domain?

With CNAME: every of your domain points to a CNAME, when your server’s IP change, you will only need to update the A record of that CNAME. If you have a domain that doesn’t belongs to you, or you don’t have the control of what it will be pointing to, you can only use CNAME.

Should I use CNAME or a record?

General rules: Use an A record if you manage which IP addresses are assigned to a particular machine, or if the IP are fixed (this is the most common case). Use a CNAME record if you want to alias one name to another name, and you don’t need other records (such as MX records for emails) for the same name.

What does a PTR record do?

A PTR (or Pointer) record is a security tool. Essentially, when you receive an email, your mail server uses the PTR record that comes in with the email message to check that the mail server sending the email matches the IP address that it claims to be using. This is also known as “reverse DNS lookup”.

Where do I add a CNAME record in Cloudflare?

Once a CNAME setup is enabled, DNS records must be updated in both Cloudflare’s DNS app and your authoritative DNS: 1. Add an A or CNAME record in the Cloudflare DNS app for the subdomain. An orange-cloud icon beside the DNS record will proxy traffic to Cloudflare. 2.

How do I add MX records to my CloudFlare account?

Log in to your account at Cloudflare. Find the domain you would like to use with Fastmail. In the menu at the top of the screen, click DNS. Click Add Record, then choose MX for the Type.

Can a MX record point to a CNAME record?

MX and NS records cannot point to a CNAME record; they have to point to an A record (for IPv4) or an AAAA record (for IPv6). An MX record is a mail exchange record that directs email to a mail server. An NS record is a ‘name server’ record and indicates which DNS server is authoritative for that domain. Learn more about MX records or NS records.

Which is an example of an MX record?

The MX record indicates how email messages should be routed in accordance with Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP, the standard protocol for all email.) Like CNAME records, an MX record must always point to another domain. Example of an MX record: