Help & Troubleshooting
CNAME Record
What this is
A CNAME record makes one hostname an alias for another: the alias inherits whatever records the target has. It is the standard way to point subdomains at CDNs, SaaS platforms, and hosted services.
How to read your result
The result shows the target the name points at. Follow the chain mentally: your subdomain is only as healthy as its target. If the target is a service you no longer use, that is a problem worth fixing immediately.
Common problems and how to fix them
CNAME added on the bare domain alongside other records
How it shows up: DNS provider rejects the record, or mail/other services on the domain break mysteriously.
How to fix it: A CNAME cannot coexist with any other record on the same name, and the bare domain always has SOA/NS records — so a true CNAME there is invalid. Use your provider's ALIAS/ANAME/flattening feature, or point the bare domain via A record and CNAME only the www.
CNAME points at a retired or unclaimed service
How it shows up: The subdomain shows an error page from the platform — or worse, someone else claims the abandoned target and serves their own content on your subdomain (subdomain takeover).
How to fix it: Remove CNAMEs for services you cancelled, and do it before or immediately when the service is terminated. Audit all CNAMEs periodically; takeover via dangling CNAMEs is a real and common attack.
Long CNAME chains
How it shows up: Slower first lookups and harder troubleshooting; some old resolvers give up on deep chains.
How to fix it: Point the alias as directly as possible at the final target instead of chaining alias → alias → target.