A CNAME record points a prefix of your domain to another host name, instead of an IP address. Common uses:
- www pointing to your domain, so www.yourdomain.com shows the same site as yourdomain.com.
- A subdomain pointing to an outside service, such as a store, help desk or booking page that gives you an address to point to.
Add a CNAME record
Before you start: You can only manage DNS here if your domain uses our nameservers: dns1.liberationtek.com, dns2.liberationtek.com and dns3.liberationtek.com. If the DNS Management page says "This zone is not active", your domain points somewhere else. Either change the nameservers (see Changing your domain's nameservers) or add the record where your DNS is hosted now.
- Log in to the Client Area.
- Go to Domains > My Domains and click the domain.
- In the menu on the left, click DNS Management.
- In the top row, enter the Hostname: the prefix, such as www or shop.
- Leave TTL at 3600 (one hour) unless you have a reason to change it.
- Choose CNAME in the Type list.
- Enter the Address: the host name to point to, for example yourdomain.com or the address the service gave you.
- Click Add Record. The record is added to the list as a pending change.
- Click Save Changes at the bottom. Nothing changes until you save.
Rules for CNAME records
- A CNAME can't be on the domain itself (@). To point the bare domain to a host name, use an ALIAS record instead.
- A hostname with a CNAME can't have any other record (A, MX or TXT) on the same name.
- The Address must be a host name, not an IP address. For an IP address, use an A record.
How long does it take?
Most changes work within an hour. Some networks keep the old record until its TTL runs out, so allow up to 24–48 hours before assuming something is wrong.
