Proxy DNS records
Since it affect so many other parts of Cloudflare, you should proxy your DNS records through Cloudflare.
What is DNS?
DNS stands for Domain Name System.
Without DNS, we would have to remember long strings of numbers to access our favorite websites. With DNS, you just have to remember something like example.com and your browser goes to an IP address like 192.0.2.1.
For more details on DNS, refer to the Learning Center ↗.
What are DNS records?
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.
What is 'proxying my DNS through Cloudflare'?
When you proxy specific DNS records through Cloudflare - specifically A, AAAA, or CNAME records — DNS queries for these will resolve to Cloudflare anycast IPs instead of their original DNS target. This means that all requests intended for proxied hostnames will go to Cloudflare first and then be forwarded to your origin server.
flowchart LR accTitle: Connections with Cloudflare A[Visitor] <-- Connection --> B[Cloudflare global network] <-- Connection --> C[Origin server]
This behavior allows Cloudflare to optimize, cache, and protect all requests to your application, as well as protect your origin server from DDoS attacks ↗.
Because requests to proxied hostnames go through Cloudflare before reaching your origin server, all requests will appear to be coming from Cloudflare's IP addresses (and could potentially be blocked or rate limited). If you use proxied records, you may need to adjust your server configuration to allow Cloudflare IPs.
Cloudflare anycast IPs used to proxy traffic on your domain are assigned automatically. These IPs might change at any time for operational reasons. If you need to allowlist Cloudflare IPs on your infrastructure or hosting provider, include the full list of Cloudflare anycast IPs ↗.
As an Enterprise customer, you have the option to get static IPs or bring your own IPs (BYOIP).
Before proxying your records, review our guide that explains what proxying does and what limitations it has.
You may also need to allow Cloudflare IP addresses at your origin to prevent requests from being blocked.
Then, update your Cloudflare DNS records so their Proxy status is Proxied.
