When using the NS1 platform or querying against our API, you may need to change between record types while keeping the same name and configuration.
Warning
Record types A (or AAAA), CNAME, and ALIAS should not coexist at the apex level. This configuration is not RFC-compliant and is guaranteed to produce unpredictable behavior by resolvers when querying against NS1 name servers. Responses may vary unless you are querying against NS1 directly and indicating a specific type. If you do not indicate a record type, NS1 typically responds with the following procedure: A (or AAAA) > ALIAS > CNAME.
Warning
After creating the new record type, wait at least five minutes before deleting the original record. Anyone who queries the record before it exists in the NS1 platform will receive an NXDOMAIN response that will be cached for approximately five minutes as an anti-DDoS measure.
You can convert a CNAME record to an A or AAAA record by following the steps below:
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Create a new A or AAAA record with the same domain as the original CNAME record, adjusting other configuration settings as desired.
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After waiting at least five minutes for the changes to propagate to all DNS servers, delete the original CNAME record.
Once the A or AAAA record is created, NS1 will resolve queries using the address record data instead of the CNAME record.
You can convert an A or AAAA record to a CNAME record by following the steps below:
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Create a new CNAME record with the same domain as the original A or AAAA record, adjusting other configuration settings as desired.
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After waiting at least five minutes for the changes to propagate to all DNS servers, delete the original address (A or AAAA) record.
Once the A/AAAA record is deleted, NS1’s nameservers will respond with the CNAME record.
Unique to the NS1 platform, ALIAS records enable CNAME-like behavior at the primary or secondary zone apex. This is because ALIAS records always resolve to A or AAAA records.
If the ALIAS record is configured on a primary zone, it can be converted to an A (address) record or CNAME record type by following the steps below:
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Create a new CNAME, A, or AAAA record with the same domain as the existing ALIAS record, adjusting other configuration settings as desired.
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After waiting at least five minutes for the changes to propagate to all DNS servers, delete the original ALIAS record.
If the ALIAS record is configured on a secondary zone, it cannot be converted to any other record type. ALIAS is the only record type that can be added to a secondary zone.