How to point subdomain to another subdomain using afraid.org and CloudFlare

cloudflarecname-recorddomain-name-system

So I have one subdomain from afraid.org (let's call it sub.afraid.org) and one domain registered somewhere (sub.domain.com) using CloudFlare DNS with it.

What I want to do is point sub.afraid.org to sub.domain.com, not a redirect, but just point to it and load the same content is loaded in sub.domain.com but in sub.afraid.org

I tried to setup a new CNAME record in afraid.org like this: sub.afraid.org CNAME sub.domain.com and there's also a CNAME in my CloudFlare settings but for some reason CloudFlare says it's unable to resolve the address.

I also added the sub.afraid.org in my virtual host config to respond to the requests (in this case Nginx).

I've googled about this and seems to be possible to do, but the problem seems to be with the CloudFlare settings or something I'm missing.

Best Answer

It is not possible because CloudFlare does not recognize sub.afraid.org.

I suggest you point sub.afraid.org to the server that hosts sub.domain.com directly and set up a virtual host for it.

Please see this doc Can I CNAME a domain not on CloudFlare to a domain that is on CloudFlare?

Related Solutions

DNS – Using CNAME to Point to Another Domain to Save IP Addresses

That's exactly the point of a CNAME. A CNAME does not need to point to a DNS in the same zone, it can point to any DNS name registered with any nameserver.

What it means for your clients is an additional DNS lookup on the NS for the other host, but that's a tiny price to pay for the majority of websites on the internet.

DNS – Is a CNAME to CNAME Chain Allowed?

From RFC 1034 - Domain names - concepts and facilities:

Domain names in RRs which point at another name should always point at the primary name and not the alias. This avoids extra indirections in accessing information. For example, the address to name RR for the above host should be:
52.0.0.10.IN-ADDR.ARPA  IN      PTR     C.ISI.EDU
rather than pointing at USC-ISIC.ARPA. Of course, by the robustness principle, domain software should not fail when presented with CNAME chains or loops; CNAME chains should be followed and CNAME loops signalled as an error.

So yes, it is allowed and properly written software will handle it just OK. CNAME chains aren't however considered good practice and impose an overhead on the infrastructure.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

DNS – Using CNAME to Point to Another Domain to Save IP Addresses

DNS – Is a CNAME to CNAME Chain Allowed?

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