Canonical Name or CNAME records link an alias name to another canonical domain name. You'll need to configure CNAME records if you want to use URL forwarding to create a custom web address, forward a URL to Google Sites, or forward a naked domain URL, as well as verify your site with your domain name provider. Lastly, you may need to use CNAME records to reset the administrator password if you can’t access the Google Apps control panel because you’ve forgotten the administrator password.

What are CNAME records?

The value of a CNAME record is always a domain name. CNAME records are often used to create subdomains. CNAME records are useful because they allow you to set up an alias to a server IP address with another or "canonical" domain name without having to specify an IP address.

For example, www.example.com can have a CNAME record pointing to example.com. If example.com has an A record configured with an IP address, traffic from www.example.com will be directed to this IP address.

Specifically, you might enable your users to access the Gmail sign-in page with the URL mail.your_domain.com instead of mail.google.com/a/your_domain.com. CNAME records are stored by your domain name provider and therefore must be changed with the provider. See Create CNAME records for instructions.

Please note, creating a CNAME record does not disrupt your current mailflow or affect other services.

Ready to set up CNAME records now?

To direct your one domain to another, configure your CNAME records as described below:

• I'm new to configuring CNAME records. See create CNAME records for step-by-step instructions for setting up CNAME records with your domain host.


• I know how to configure CNAME records. See CNAME record values to find out exactly which values to enter for your CNAME records.


• Need more help? Troubleshooting CNAME records walks you through the process of getting CNAME records working.

Need more information?

Please read our Basic Guide to DNS if you’re unfamiliar with the Domain Name System and review our Basic Guide to Domain Names to brush up on other related terms. Proceed to create CNAME records when you're ready.