---
title: "ANAME – Root Domain Alias"
type: "page"
post_id: "17445"
slug: "aname-root-domain-alias"
canonical: "https://easydns.com/features/aname-root-domain-alias/"
markdown_url: "https://easydns.com/features/aname-root-domain-alias.md"
json_url: "https://easydns.com/features/aname-root-domain-alias.json"
txt_url: "https://easydns.com/features/aname-root-domain-alias.txt"
published: "2018-12-10T16:34:29+00:00"
modified: "2024-11-13T17:52:18+00:00"
author: "Mark E. Jeftovic"
categories:
tags:
site_name: "easyDNS"
publisher: ""
language: "en-US"
generator: "easyPress Markdown"
generator_version: "1.0.3"
---
ANAME – Zone Apex AliasingANAMEs or “Apex Aliasing” provides one of the most sought after protocol violations on the web today. In other words, it lets you do this:

**example.com. IN CNAME some.other.hostname.example.**

Under normal circumstances, this is a protocol violation, because of the “CNAME cannot contain other data rule” specified way back in **RFC 1034** but emphasized in **RFC 1092**:

**“A CNAME record is not allowed to coexist with any other data”**

And since your zone apex must have matching **SOA record**, not to mention the **NS RRSet**, putting a **CNAME** here would break the rule, and in the process break your DNS.

But a lot of people really want to do it, and the reason you’re reading this page is probably because *you* want to do it. Further, given the prevalence of use-cases like pointing your domain at a CDN or other external platforms, it was inevitable that DNS providers would come up with a way to do it.

Enter the ANAME, which is like a CNAME for your zone apex, at least you can use them in your settings that way. Under the hood, these records get flattened into A records, but you don’t need to know about the gory details (there is an entire section about it in our book [Managing Mission Critical Domains and DNS](https://easydns.com/blog/2018/07/18/new-book-managing-mission-critical-domains-dns/) for the true keeners).

Suffice it to say that you can add your domain apex as you would any other CNAME in the DNS editor, the system will give you a gentle notice that this will be implemented as an ANAME record, and you are off to the races.

Enjoy that CDN! Or whatever.

![ANAME - Root Domain Alias](https://easydns.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2018-12-10-at-11.31.25-AM-1024x261.png)