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I've a query with regards to CNAME record, can I have a CNAME as different domain name? Ex. I've a website example.com, can I create a CNAME with example.net? So, irrelevant of what end user types (either example.com or example.net) they should always reach example.com

MadHatter
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Aniruddha
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2 Answers2

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Two issues collide here. The first is can a CNAME point to a different domain, to which the answer is yes, that is perfectly acceptable.

The second, though, is that in the case of your example, you cannot use a CNAME at all, because you cannot use a CNAME at the apex (aka root) of a domain. foo.example.net can be a CNAME; example.net cannot.

Community
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MadHatter
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  • This may be dangerous to suggest to inexperienced admins, but there are `ALIAS` and `ANAME` records which can be attached to the root domain and provide *similar* behavior to a `CNAME`. With that said, *make sure you know what you are doing* before deploying these types of records. – Brennen Smith Aug 18 '16 at 07:34
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    @Brennen It also needs to be mentioned that `ALIAS` and `ANAME` are *not* record types defined by the standards. They are custom behavior in certain server implementations. – Andrew B Aug 19 '16 at 02:42
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If you're just trying to redirect example.net web site visitors to example.com , that's what you should do. Point example.net A DNS record to example.com's IP address. After that, you have a couple of options;

-Create a new website on your host that accepts example.net visitors and redirect them using HTML/Javascript in your index page , or using your server's redirection capabilities.

-On your single website, check to see if visitors' URL matches example.net and redirect them to example.com using Javascript in your index page.

Pick one.

Mer
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  • Or you could just use a ServerAlias and not have to worry about all the coding and redirects. – user9517 Aug 18 '16 at 06:52
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    Does it change the URL tho? If it's something like "Host headers" in IIS, URL will stay "example.net" . – Mer Aug 18 '16 at 06:58