Editing CNAME record (section)

{{short description|Type of resource record in the Domain Name System (DNS)}}
{{for|RTCP CNAME records|RTP Control Protocol}}

A '''Canonical Name''' ('''CNAME''') '''record''' is a type of [[resource record]] in the [[Domain Name System]] (DNS) that maps one domain name (an alias) to another (the '''[[Canonical form|canonical]] name''').<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mockapetris |first=P. |date=November 1987 |title=RFC 1035 - Domain names - implementation and specification |url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1035#section-3.2.2 |publisher=Internet Engineering Task Force |access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref>

This can prove convenient when running multiple services (like an [[File Transfer Protocol|FTP server]] ''and'' a [[web server]], each running on different ports) from a single [[IP address]]. One can, for example, use CNAME records to point ''ftp.example.com'' and ''www.example.com'' to the DNS entry for ''example.com'', which in turn has an [[A record]] which points to the IP address. Then, if the IP address ever changes, one only has to record the change in one place within the network: in the DNS A record for ''example.com''.

CNAME records must always point to another domain name, never directly to an IP address.