Updating Your CloudFlare DNS to a CNAME
Sometimes you may be required to update your DNS records due to a few different reasons: you're moving hosting providers, your site has moved to a different server, or you're using a different domain name. Any of these will require updating your domain’s DNS zone file record. This video will help you understand how to easily update your DNS records from within CloudFlare to a CNAME.
We highly recommend all of our customers utilize a CNAME when configuring DNS as this provides flexibility in the event that your site needs to be migrated. Unlike an A Record that utilizes an IP Address, a CNAME will never change even if your site moves to a different server.
CloudFlare is an amazing DNS provider that allows you to set your non-WWW DNS record to a CNAME.
In a nutshell, this means that you can set your domain to be pointed to another domain instead of an IP address, which is what WP Engine recommends.
Assuming you’re already a CloudFlare customer and have configured your account and gone through the initial setup of your domain, you will see a DNS square in your CloudFlare dashboard that will bring you to your DNS records.
You will notice on the left hand side of your DNS record, a DNS record type like “A”, “MX” or “CNAME”. What we’re going to do today is change your “A” record type to a “CNAME”.
Before we get started please note that once we start the process this will need to be completed as soon as possible. Your site will be down for a brief amount of time until we complete the process.
To get started, we will want to
- Delete the “A” record that is pointing your domain to an IP address
- Next we will want to add a new DNS record
- Select the type “CNAME”
- Where it says “Name” add your domain name
- Where it says “Domain Name” add your WP Engine URL, which you you can find in the User Portal as yourinstall.wpengine.com
- You can leave the TTL as Automatic TTL
- Click Add Record
Once you’ve added the record, CloudFlare should start serving traffic as usual but now you are using a CNAME for your main DNS record.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the WP Engine Support Team. Thanks for watching!