Learn about the purpose of common DNS records and how you can add or delete those records at Cloudflare.
What is DNS?
For details on DNS and its purpose on the Internet, visit our what is DNS learning center.
Adding DNS records
1. Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard.
2. Click the appropriate Cloudflare account for the domain where you will add records.
3. Ensure the proper domain is selected.
4. Click the DNS app.
5. The UI interface for adding DNS records appears under DNS Records:
6. Replace Name with a subdomain or the root domain.
Additionally, CloudFlare allows an underscore _ in A and CNAME records since some modern web services support an underscore. However, Cloudflare discourages using underscores due to limited browser support.
7. The selection menu defaults to A records. Expand the DNS record types in the tables below for further instructions pertaining to each record type:
DNS records for IP address resolution:
Example: 203.0.113.34
2. Click Add Record.
Multiple A records for the same subdomain can be added with different IP addresses. Cloudflare's DNS will alternate requests to the various IP addresses provided. However, Cloudflare's DNS will continue to alternate traffic to all specified IP addresses even if an IP address is unreachable.
(What is an A record?)
Example: www.example.com
2. Click Add Record.
(What is a CNAME record?)
Example: 2001:db8:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
2. Click Add Record.
(What is an AAAA record?)
DNS records for email and email authentication:
Review the SPF and DKIM sections of this table for examples.
2. Click Add Record.
(What is a TXT record?)
Server is the DNS hostname of the mail server.
Priority is a relative number.
The lowest Priority number in a group of MX records will have priority over the rest.
2. Click Save.
3. Click Add Record.
(What is an MX record?)
DKIM records can often exceed the 255-character limit for TXT records. Therefore, Cloudflare will automatically split these into multiple records at the same domain name, producing a record with a format similar to the following when queried via dig or nslookup:
default._domainkey.example.com. 299 IN TXT "v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=<encoded public key>" "<rest of public key>;"Remove quotation marks and spaces when adding DKIM records to your zone. Also, you do not need to prefix (escape) semicolons with a "\" character for DKIM records added to Cloudflare.
Test whether a DKIM record is correctly configured by using a dig command: https://scottlinux.com/2012/10/27/how-to-fetch-dkim-records-from-dns/.
Some services require additional CNAME records for DKIM verification. Verification will fail for CNAME records used to verify DKIM unless there is a grey-cloud icon beside the CNAME record in the DNS app.
Although Cloudflare and most other DNS providers support the dedicated SPF record types, some DNS clients may instead look for a TXT record.
SPF content as a TXT record will look similar to the following:
TXT @ v=spf1 include:example.net -allFurther details on SPF record syntax can be found at openspf.org. Contact your mail provider about SPF record content if you observe SPF failures in your email headers or if your mail is undeliverable.
To learn more about DMARC records, visit the DMARC project.
Miscellaneous DNS records:
For further assistance, refer to our support guide dedicated to configuring CAA records.
(What is a CAA record?)
2. Create the SRV name. For example:
Service: _xmpp-client
Protocol: tcp
Name: yourdomain.com
3. Click Save. Cloudflare will combine the Service, Protocol, and Name fields to create the SRV record name.
4. A new window will appear requesting to add the SRV content:
5. Add the SRV content. For example:
Priority: 5
Weight: 0
Port: 5222
Target: talk.l.google.com
6. Click Save.
Using the example data above, a DNS query for the SRV record would return the following response:
_xmpp-client._tcp.yourdomain.com. IN SRV 5 0 5222 talk.l.google.com.(What is an SRV record?)
The main reason to have a PTR record is to prevent emails from ending up in spam folders. Since Cloudflare doesn't support email traffic by default, you would instead need to set the PTR record where your email server is located. Please reach out to your email provider for assistance.
(What is a PTR record?)
(What is an SOA record?)
For questions about a DNS record not listed in the table above, visit our Learning Center or visit our documentation on how to configure DKIM, SPF, or DMARC records for mail authentication.
Cloudflare can proxy certain DNS records. Please visit our guide on which records are appropriate to proxy.
Deleting DNS records
1. Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard.
2. Click the appropriate Cloudflare account for the domain where you will delete records.
3. Ensure the proper domain is selected.
4. Click the DNS app.
5. Under DNS Records, click X to delete a specific DNS record.