How do I update my DNS on Cloudflare?

4 min

The process for setting up account-level custom nameservers depends on whether Cloudflare is managing your domain’s DNS.

Create an account-level nameserver with a POST command.
Cloudflare creates the glue records automatically.
To enable the custom nameservers on existing zones:
Use a PUT command on each zone.
Modify the zone’s registrar to use the custom nameserver names.
To enable the custom nameserver by default for all new zones, use a PUT command setting the value of use_account_custom_ns_by_default to true.

Create an account-level nameserver with a POST command.
Add the glue records for each entry at your DNS provider.
Use a POST command to verify that the glue records are active.
To enable the custom nameservers on existing zones:
Use a PUT command on each zone.
Modify the zone’s registrar to use the custom nameserver names.
To enable the custom nameserver by default for all new zones, use a PUT command setting the value of use_account_custom_ns_by_default to true.

Configure zone-level custom NameServers

To add custom nameservers to a specific zone:

Log into the Cloudflare dashboard.
Ensure the website you want to update is selected.
Click the DNS app.
On Custom Nameservers, click Add Custom Nameservers and enter nameserver hostnames. (e.g. ns1, ns2, ns3).
Cloudflare will assign IPv4 and IPv6 to your nameservers.
The next steps depends on whether Cloudflare manages the DNS for your domain:
If Cloudflare does manage the DNS for your domain, no further action is required.
If Cloudflare does not manage the DNS for your domain, add the Custom Nameservers and IP addresses to your domain registrar’s DNS as glue (A or AAAA) records. If you do not add these records, DNS lookups for your domain will fail.