Glossary
Review the definitions for terms used across Cloudflare’s DNS documentation.
| Term | Definition |
| active zone | A DNS zone that is active on Cloudflare requires changing its nameservers to Cloudflare’s for management. |
| apex domain | Apex domain is used to refer to a domain that does not contain a subdomain part, such as example.com (without www.). It is also known as “root domain” or “naked domain”. |
| DNS filtering | DNS filtering uses the Domain Name System to block malicious websites and filter out harmful content, enhancing security and access control. |
| DNS location | DNS locations are a collection of DNS endpoints which can be mapped to physical entities such as offices, homes, or data centers. |
| DNS over HTTPS | DNS over HTTPS (DoH) is a standard for encrypting DNS traffic via the HTTPS protocol, preventing tracking and spoofing of DNS queries. |
| DNS over TLS | DNS over TLS (DoT) is a standard for encrypting DNS traffic using its own port (853) and TLS encryption. |
| DNS record | DNS records are instructions that live in authoritative DNS servers and provide information about a domain including what IP address is associated with that domain and how to handle requests for that domain. |
| DNS server | DNS servers translate human-readable domain names into IP addresses, eliminating the need to remember complex IP addresses. |
| DNS zone | A portion of the DNS namespace that is managed by a specific organization or administrator. |
| Domain Name System (DNS) | The Domain Name System (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. DNS translates domain names to IP addresses. |
| hostname | The name given to a server or node on a network, often the public DNS name of a server. |
| nameserver | A nameserver is a dedicated server that translates human readable hostnames into IP addresses. Nameservers like root servers, TLD servers, and authoritative nameservers are fundamental components of the Domain Name System (DNS). |