NS vs CNAME Setup for ESA Accelerated Domains - Edge Security Acceleration

Edge Security Acceleration (ESA) provides fast, secure, and easy-to-manage Domain Name System (DNS) resolution for your websites. When you connect your site to ESA, you gain dynamic and static content acceleration, security protection, and edge computing capabilities from a single platform.

ESA supports two DNS setup types: NS setup and CNAME setup. Choose the type that best fits your infrastructure and operational needs.

Note

If DNS query attacks against your site exceed the ESA platform's protection limit, DNS resolution for your site's records may be black-holed or halted.

DNS setup types

	NS setup	CNAME setup
Best for	Individual developers and small to medium-sized enterprises	Large enterprises that use multiple proxy acceleration services
How it works	Change your domain's name server (NS) addresses to the ones assigned by ESA. ESA handles your DNS configuration, and you manage all DNS records in the ESA console.	Add the CNAME record generated by ESA at your DNS service provider.
Use case	Manage and accelerate all DNS records for your site, such as `example.com`, from a single location within ESA.	Different subdomains of your site, such as `api.example.com` and `img.example.com`, use different cloud services. You want to connect only specific subdomains to Alibaba Cloud ESA while retaining your current DNS service provider.

Features

Feature	Description
DNS analytics	Provides metric monitoring and traffic statistics through visualized reports across multiple dimensions. Use real-time data to adjust your service policies.
Manage DNS records	Add, edit, and delete DNS records for websites connected to ESA.
CNAME flattening	The DNS protocol prevents CNAME records from coexisting with other record types, such as MX or TXT records, for the same domain name. CNAME flattening resolves this conflict by returning the IP address of the target domain instead of its CNAME record. This reduces recursive queries from local DNS servers and accelerates domain name resolution.
Convert DNS setup	Convert between NS setup and CNAME setup as your requirements change.
SaaS Manager	Add your customers' custom domains, such as `app.customer.com`, to your existing ESA website. This extends your site's security and acceleration capabilities to your end customers, enhancing their brand trust while simplifying SSL/TLS certificate management and security policy configuration.

Plan comparison

The following table lists DNS feature quotas and availability across ESA plans.

Type	Details	Entrance (0 USD/month)	Pro (15 USD/month)	Premium (249 USD/month)	Enterprise (Customize)
DNS management	DNS records per website	100	200	500	500
	DNS record types	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported
	SaaS Manager	5	20	100	Customize by contacting the sales team
	DNS analytics	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported

Get started

Add your site to ESA and select a DNS setup type:

NS setup -- Change your domain's NS addresses to the ones assigned by ESA and manage all DNS records from the ESA console.
CNAME setup -- Add the ESA-generated CNAME record at your current DNS service provider to proxy specific subdomains through ESA.

After your site is connected, configure additional ESA capabilities such as Web Application Firewall (WAF), DDoS protection, and CDN acceleration to further strengthen your site's security and performance.