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You can use Cloudflare DNS with a variety of setups. For an overview of what these setups are and if you are not yet familiar with specific DNS terminology, refer to Concepts.
In the most common setup (full), you add your domain, import your DNS records, and update your nameservers to make Cloudflare your primary authoritative DNS provider. Once the setup is completed:
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You manage DNS records through the Cloudflare dashboard or API. This is how you control which resources are available on the apex domain (
example.com) or specific subdomains (blog.example.com) of your website, as well as control other configurations. -
Cloudflare responds to all DNS queries for your hostnames and your DNS records are propagated across the Cloudflare global network ↗, speeding up your domain.
The following links introduce important concepts and will guide you through actions you may need to take while having your website or application on Cloudflare.
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DNS records: DNS records contain information about your domain and are used to make your website or application available to visitors and other web services.
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Nameservers: In the context of Cloudflare DNS, nameservers refer to authoritative nameservers. When a nameserver is authoritative for
example.com, it means that DNS resolvers will consider responses from this nameserver when a user tries to accessexample.com. -
Proxy status: Proxy status affects how Cloudflare treats incoming HTTP/S requests to A, AAAA, and CNAME records. When a record is proxied, Cloudflare responds with anycast IPs, which speeds up and protects HTTP/S traffic with our cache/CDN ↗, DDoS protection, WAF, and more.
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How Cloudflare works: An overview of how Cloudflare works as a DNS provider and as a reverse proxy.
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DNS analytics: An overview of the different data sources and insights you can get when using Cloudflare DNS.
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Troubleshooting: A full resources list for when something is not working.