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CNAME and other data

A CNAME cannot share a name with other records

Seen in BIND (named-checkzone, zone load), Route 53, Cloudflare (error 81053)

The zone has a CNAME on a name that also has other records, which DNS does not allow.

Common causes

  • A CNAME was added at the zone apex, which always has SOA and NS records.
  • A name already has A, MX or TXT records and someone added a CNAME for it, or the reverse.
  • A leftover record from an imported zone conflicts with a new CNAME.

How to fix it

  1. Remove the other records on that name, or use A/AAAA records instead of the CNAME.
  2. At the apex, use your provider's alias or CNAME-flattening feature (ALIAS, ANAME, Route 53 alias) instead of a CNAME.
  3. Validate BIND zones with `named-checkzone example.com /path/to/zonefile` before reloading.
See the records on the name

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Related errors

All 22 DNS errors