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Okay, this is a slightly different question than the others that I have read regarding NS & CNAME.

I am using Google Domains for domain, and a cloud service IPP for hosting.

I would like to use Google Domains for DNS. Why? Reliability. If Google goes down, the internet is down (I'm of course exaggerating, but I hope you get the idea). If my own private IPP goes down, well, as you know, they go down.

Here is my plan:

  1. Google has this odd "Synthetic Record" that can be used to point the naked domain to www. Use Synthetic @.example.com > https://www.example.com . This should reduce the number of lookups when example.com is entered as a URL, automatically transferring it to HTTPS.
  2. Use Google DNS www.example.com CNAME dns1.ippcompany.example

Number 2 is the question. If dns1.ippcompany.example always resolves to the same IP as www.example.com should resolve to, is there any issue? I understand that the pure way to do this is to use a Google DNS www.example.com NS dns1.ippcompany.example , but doesn't this NS introduce yet another lookup to the ipp company ? Wouldn't it be more direct to just use CNAME?

Patrick Mevzek
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Masa
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  • Read: https://ns1.com/blog/using-dig-trace – Jacob Evans Jul 29 '18 at 17:31
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    It would make less sense to use a NS record for `www.domain.com`. A CNAME record is perfectly fine as it's not a zone apex. – Torin Jul 29 '18 at 17:39
  • I was thinking it made more DNS sense to use the NS reference, since domain.com is supposed to be "resolved by dns1" and not necessarily "resolved to dns1", no? If domain.com were to be "resolved to dns1", then CNAME would make more sense, or so I thought. Can you explain what you meant by "make less sense to use NS"? – Masa Jul 30 '18 at 02:51
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    "*If Google goes down, the internet is down*" this is a very sad view and anything adding to this idea is giving very bad image. Besides, Internet is not just the web... – Patrick Mevzek Jul 30 '18 at 13:25
  • It is not a good idea to use `CNAME` records as targets of `NS` records – Patrick Mevzek Jul 30 '18 at 13:28

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There is nothing wrong with using the CNAME as you described, but why? The CNAME does involve another lookup (unless it's already cached). Providing the answer in an A record doesn't involve another lookup, because the A answers the query. A reason for the CNAME is that you anticipate the the address may change, but someone else will change the address referenced by the CNAME so that your entry will still be valid.

It is not normal to point www.example.com to a DNS server, although there might be circumstances where it makes sense to do that. Normally you would point example.com to a DNS server for that domain.

RalfFriedl
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