CNAME records must always point to another domain name, never directly to an IP address.
However, if the resolver is specifically told to look for CNAME records, the canonical name (right-hand side) is returned, rather than restarting the query.
The left-hand label is an alias for the right-hand side (the RDATA portion), which is (or should be) a canonical name.
The DNAME record provides redirection (alias) for a subtree of the domain name tree in the DNS.
In contrast, the CNAME record creates an alias for a single name and not its subdomains.
Several managed DNS platforms implement a non-standard ALIAS[8] or ANAME[9] record type.
ANAME records are typically configured to point to another domain, but when queried by a client, answer with an IP address.
However, the latest draft document expired in January 2020[10] and has been superseded by a series of proposals, the most recent of which is the one for the SVCB and HTTPS record types.