We should be using the type listed in the response, not in the query. Because who knows what the server is going to respond with? I noticed this when trying to connect to an XMPP account on jabber.linuxlovers.at. They return a CNAME when querying for SRV--I don't know if that's actually valid. $ dig srv _xmpp-client._tcp.jabber.linuxlovers.at ;; ANSWER SECTION: _xmpp-client._tcp.jabber.linuxlovers.at. 85361 IN CNAME jabber.linuxlovers.at.