# Error CNAME - Cannot save zone record: Duplicate record

## Symptoms

The following error is thrown when trying to add a record to a zone:

```
Cannot save zone record: Duplicate record
```

or

```
Error CNAME example.tld found, but other records with same label exist
```

or

```
Cannot save zone record: A DNS zone cannot contain a CNAME record for a host which already has another type of record. <br></br><br></br>Please check that this zone does not have both CNAME and other types of records for the same host.
```

## Cause

1. A CNAME record exists with a label of a different record type.  
    e.g., the zone for example.tld with the following records would cause an error: ```
    www.example.tld CNAME example.tld<br></br>www.example.tld A 1.2.3.4
    ```
    
    As per [RFC1912 (section 2.4)](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1912#section-2.4), A CNAME record is not allowed to coexist with any other data. In other words, if example.tld is a canonical name for www.example.tld, you can't also have an MX record for www.example.tld, or an A record, or even a TXT record.  
      
    Do **NOT** try to combine CNAMEs and NS records like this!:
    
    ```
    example.com IN NS ns1.domain.com<br></br>example.com IN NS ns2.domain.net<br></br>example.com IN CNAME host.domain.com<br></br>sub.example.com IN A 1.2.3.4
    ```
    
    Since no other records are allowed to coexist with a CNAME, the NS entries are ignored. Therefore all the hosts in the example.com domain are ignored as well!
    
    If you want to have your domain also be a host, do the following:
    
    ```
    example.com IN NS ns1.domain.tld<br></br>example.com IN NS ns2.domain.tld<br></br>example.com IN A 1.2.3.4<br></br>sub.example.com IN A 1.2.3.4
    ```
2. CNAME with a label that equals hostname exists: ```
    example2.tld CNAME example2.tld.
    ```

3\. <span> There is a subdomain on a lower level, for example:  
</span>

<span>You want to add sub1.domain.ext as a CNAME, but there is a record on sub2.sub1.domain.ext. </span>

<span>While this configuration is not prohibited, it can cause a validation error. </span>

<span>In this case, remove or rename the sub2.sub1.domain.ext record, and add the sub1.domain.ext CNAME, or make sure you add CNAMES first.</span>