1

I am having trouble figuring out my DNS record types. I want the www subdomain to be my "canonical" page, so my configuration looks like this:

www    A record type    actual ip address
@      301 redirect     www address

Is this correct? Do I need to replace the 301 redirect with a CNAME record type? From what I understand, CNAME is supposed to be used for www and @ is supposed to be the canonical, but I want it the other way around.

I am also concerned about SEO, but I am not sure how having a CNAME record instead of a 301 redirect affects this.

An additional issue I am having with this setup is that I can't use [email protected] for SSH and I need to use [email protected]. But this is just a minor nuisance.

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

A CNAME is not a redirect. It is just a canonical (or copy) of an A record. Set your A record for @ to the IP and the www as a CNAME to example.com. Then, in the web server configuration you can configure the root domain to redirect to the www subdomain. This way example.com and www.example.com point to the same place but users will only see www.example.com in their web browser.

Improve this answer
2
  • What is the difference between doing a server-level redirect vs a DNS level 301 redirect?
    – Mihai Oprea
    May 11, 2014 at 15:23
  • 3
    There is no such thing as a DNS level 301 redirect. 301 is an HTTP status code that is returned by a web server. Some registrars (such as GoDaddy) offer a redirect option, but that is also a redirect. When using your registrar's redirect option for a domain, a DNS record is created that points to your registrar's server which then redirects to the site that you specify.
    – Aaron J Spetner
    May 11, 2014 at 18:18
2

You can't CNAME @ without the world ending. Seriously, don't do that.

The best compromise is to either have both of them be an A record, or to CNAME www to @. If you manage the webserver on that IP, configure it to serve up a redirect if the Host header is for the base domain.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .