Zone defaults

Configure DNS zone defaults

While there are default values for DNS settings that Cloudflare applies to all new zones, Enterprise accounts have the option to configure their own DNS zone defaults according to their preference.

Warning

DNS zone defaults are only applied at the moment a new zone is created and will not impact already existing zones. Any of the values specified as default can later be adjusted within each zone, on the respective DNS > Settings ↗ or DNS > Records ↗ page.

Steps

1. Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard ↗ and select your account.
2. Go to Manage Account > Configurations > DNS Settings.
3. For DNS zone defaults, select Configure defaults.

The values you select for the listed settings will be automatically applied to new zones as you add them to your Cloudflare account.

Available settings

• Nameserver assignment: Select your preferred nameserver type or assignment method that you want Cloudflare to use for your new zones. This setting applies both to primary zones (full setup) and secondary zones.

For primary zones:

• Multi-provider DNS: Control whether or not Cloudflare will consider NS records you add on the zone apex and if zones that contain external nameservers listed in the registrar will be activated.
• Nameserver TTL: Control how long, in seconds, your nameserver (NS) records are cached. The default time-to-live (TTL) is 24 hours. This setting applies both to Cloudflare nameservers and custom nameservers.
• SOA record: Adjust values for the start of authority (SOA) record that Cloudflare creates for your zone.

For secondary zones:

• Secondary DNS override: Enable the options to use Cloudflare proxy and add CNAME records at your zone apex.

  Multi-provider DNS does not apply as a setting for secondary zones, as this is already a required behavior for this setup. SOA record and the NS record TTL are defined on your external DNS provider and only transferred into Cloudflare.

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