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Set up zone custom nameservers

With zone custom nameservers (ZCNS), each custom nameserver name must be a subdomain of the zone where the custom nameservers are configured.

For example, for a zone domain.test, the ZCNS can be ns1.domain.test and ns2.domain.test but they cannot use a different TLD (ns1.domain.org) nor a different domain (ns1.example.com).

Use zone custom nameservers

Primary (full setup) zones

To create zone custom nameservers:

  1. Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard ↗ and select your account and zone.
  2. Go to DNS > Records.
  3. On Custom Nameservers, click Add Custom Nameservers and enter the subdomains used for the ZCNS names (for example, ns1, ns2, ns3).

Cloudflare will assign an IPv4 and an IPv6 address to each ZCNS name and automatically create the associated A or AAAA records (visible after you refresh the page).

The next step depends on whether you are using Cloudflare Registrar for your domain:

  • If you are using Cloudflare Registrar for your domain, contact Cloudflare Support to add the custom nameservers and IP addresses as glue records to the domain.
  • If you are not using Cloudflare Registrar for your domain, add the zone custom nameservers at your registrar as your authoritative nameservers and as glue (A and AAAA) records ↗. If you do not add these records, DNS lookups for your domain will fail.

Secondary zones

If you are using Cloudflare as a secondary DNS provider, you can still set up zone custom nameservers. After following the steps above to create zone custom nameservers, do the following:

  1. Get the ZCNS IPs. You can see them on the dashboard (DNS > Records) or you can use the Zone details endpoint to get the vanity_name_servers_ips.
  2. At your primary DNS provider, add NS records and, on the subdomains that you used as ZCNS names, add A/AAAA records.
  3. At your registrar, add the zone custom nameservers as your authoritative nameservers and as glue (A and AAAA) records ↗.

Remove zone custom nameservers

To remove zone custom nameservers (and their associated, read-only DNS records):

  1. Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard ↗ and select your account and zone.
  2. Go to DNS > Records.
  3. On Custom nameservers, select Remove custom nameservers.

Cloudflare will remove your ZCNS and their associated read-only A or AAAA records.

If you are not using Cloudflare Registrar for your domain, make sure to adjust your nameservers at the registrar, parent zone, or Primary DNS provider accordingly.

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