CNAME Lookup

Find the canonical name associated with your domain using the CNAME record.

CNAME Record Lookup

The CNAME record refers to the canonical name record of a domain or subdomain. This free CNAME record lookup tool from Zoho lets you query the DNS records of the given domain and returns the CNAME value. Using this tool, you can find out if the canonical name is configured or not for any domain name.

Type the domain name you wish to find the CNAME record for and hit enter. Zoho Toolkit will be able to provide you with the hostname, details on where it points to, and its respective TTL.

What is a CNAME record?

CNAME is a DNS record value that's used instead of an A record or AAAA record when a domain or subdomain is an alias of another domain. In other words, this record maps an alias domain to its root or canonical domain. The CNAME record usually points to another domain with a CNAME record, or to the root domain that would have the A record.

Example of a CNAME record

For example, when you want www.abc.com to point to abc.com, you'll add www.abc.com as an alias for the root domain, abc.com. The users accessing www.abc.com will be taken to the root domain, abc.com. In this scenario, the CNAME query for www.abc.com will perform another CNAME lookup for abc.com and return the IP address of the website via its A or AAAA records.

Host NameRecord typeDestination
abc.comA123.23.11.12
www.abc.comCNAMEabc.com
blog.abc.comCNAMEabc.com

In general, CNAME records take the domain name as the input, and cannot take an IP address

Frequently Asked Questions

  • When do you use an A record vs a CNAME record?

    An A record is used to map an IP address to its domain, whereas a CNAME is used to map one hostname to another. One must use an A record when the IP of the domain is fixed. The CNAME is used when a root domain has an alias domain, which does not have other records like MX, TXT, etc.

  • Can a CNAME record point to multiple domains?

    No. There can be multiple CNAME records for a domain, but a CNAME can either point to the CNAME record of another domain or a domain with an A record. One CNAME cannot point to multiple domains at the same time.

  • What are some restrictions of using a CNAME?

    • The CNAME should not point to an IP address.
    • MX and NS records can never point to a CNAME record.
    • A domain's root name cannot be a CNAME record.

  • How does a CNAME record work?

    When a client requests the DNS records of a specific web address, like www.abc.com, the DNS resolvers check for the specific authoritative name server that holds the DNS zone file with records for the domain abc.com.

    Once the client receives the domain name as a result instead of an IP address, it identifies the CNAME record and the process is repeated further until the IP address for the specific record is received.

  • When do you use CNAME records?

    A CNAME record can be used for multiple instances:

    • When the domain is registered in multiple countries, one can redirect the country-based domain (abc.in / abc.nz) to its parent domain (abc.com) using CNAME.
    • When you have multiple modules under your product and want to target them to your main domain, you can use CNAME records. For example, mail.abc.com -> abc.com.