DNS Guide

CNAME Not Working? Fix It with This Checklist

Most CNAME issues are caused by record conflicts, apex limitations, or using the wrong target. Verify the chain using DNS lookup and check propagation globally.

DNS Lookup DNS Propagation Checker

Top causes

  • Apex/root limitation: Many DNS providers don’t allow CNAME on the root (@). Use ALIAS/ANAME, or point A/AAAA to the correct IP.
  • Conflicting records: A host cannot have CNAME and A/AAAA/MX/TXT at the same name.
  • Wrong target: Use the correct target hostname and remove protocol (no https://) and paths.
  • Trailing dot differences: Some UIs add it automatically. Either is fine if the resolved target is correct.
  • Propagation/caching: Some regions still serve old caches until TTL expires.

Quick verification

  1. Lookup CNAME for the hostname you changed.
  2. Then lookup A/AAAA for the CNAME target.
  3. Run propagation check and filter by country/continent for mismatches.

Recommended tools

DNS Lookup
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