Domains

Manage your DNS: CNAME records

Definitions

CNAME (Canonical Name) records are DNS records that let you alias one domain name to another, making it easier to manage multiple domain names pointing to the same website or service.

DNS (Domain Name System) records are like an address book entry that tell the internet where to find and how to interact with your domain, subdomain, email, and other online services.

Before you start

✅ You can manage your CNAME records from the DNS Zones tool within your hosting control panel only if you use our nameservers.

⚠️ To manage your CNAME records, your domain must be registered, connected to your hosting account, and use our nameservers.

🚨 If you use an external DNS or CDN provider (e.g., Cloudflare), manage your CNAME records on your provider’s user dashboard, they are controlled from there.

ℹ️ Updates to CNAME records may take up to 24 hours to propagate across the internet.

Step by step

Add a CNAME record

Typically, your domain won’t have CNAME records by default. Follow these steps to add a new CNAME record.

1. Log in to your hosting control panel

2. From the top right, click the down arrow ∨ and choose the domain you want to add a CNAME record for

3. Click on the DNS Zones button

4. Click the Add Record button

5. On the Add Record popup, complete the fields and click Add:

  • Record Type: Select CNAME
  • Name (your CNAME record hostname)
  • Value (your CNAME record value)

🚨 Note: Always put a period (.) at the end of your CNAME value. If you don’t, it won’t work.

⚠️Note: You can leave the TTL field as is unless you have instructions telling you otherwise.

  • ➡️ To show you an example, we will add a fictitious CNAME record for the hostname store and point it to the value shops.cloudhelpcenter.com.

❌ Note: When you create CNAME records for hostnames, they are not subdomains.

Edit a CNAME record

Use these steps to edit any of your existing CNAME records.

1. Go to the CNAME record entry you want to edit

2. Click on the pencil icon on the right-hand side

3. You’ll get an Edit Record popup where you can edit the Name and Value fields. Click the Save button to apply changes.

  • ➡️ To show you an example, we will change the CNAME record value for store to new fictitious values.

Delete a CNAME record

Use these steps to delete any of your existing CNAME records.

1. Go to the CNAME record entry you want to delete

2. Check the box to the left of it

3. Click the Delete button

4. Click the Confirm button

  • ➡️ To show you an example, we will delete our blog CNAME record entry.