ANAME (Alias Name) records are a type of DNS record that allows you to alias one hostname to another, similar to CNAME (Canonical Name) records. However, unlike CNAME records, ANAME records can coexist with other records on the same name. This is useful for services hosted on a root domain (also known as an apex or naked domain), where a CNAME record isn’t allowed by the DNS specification.
Benefits of ANAME Records:
1. Root Domain Support: Unlike CNAME records, ANAME records can be placed at the root of a domain. This allows you to point your root domain to another service, such as a CDN or cloud service, without needing to use a subdomain.
2. Coexistence with Other Records: ANAME records can coexist with other types of records on the same name, allowing more flexibility in how you manage your DNS.
3. Performance: Since ANAME records behave like A records, they can often be resolved more quickly than CNAME records, providing a minor performance benefit.
Who Provides ANAME Records
Not all DNS providers support ANAME or equivalent records, but many major ones do. This includes DNS providers such as:
– AWS Route 53 (They use a similar feature known as Alias records)
– Google Cloud DNS (They use a similar feature known as Synthetic records)
– ClouDNS
– DNS Made Easy
– EasyDNS
– Dyn
What about Windows DNS
Windows Server’s DNS service does not natively support ANAME (or ALIAS) records, which allow you to point the root of a domain (apex record) to another domain name, similar to a CNAME record but without the restrictions.
Windows DNS supports standard DNS record types like A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, PTR, SRV, TXT, etc. ANAME or ALIAS records are not a standard DNS record type and are only supported by some DNS providers.
If you require the functionality of ANAME records in your Windows environment, you might need to consider using a DNS hosting provider that supports this feature, such as AWS Route 53, Cloudflare, DNSimple, or others. You could then use their DNS management interface to create the ANAME or ALIAS record.
Alternatively, you may use a web server or load balancer that can accept traffic for your apex domain and redirect to the ‘www’ version of your site or another endpoint.