This article describes the process of configuring a CNAME setup at Cloudflare.
Activating CNAME setup for a domain
Review our guide that explains the benefits and limitations of a CNAME setup
2. Upgrade the domain to a Business plan or higher as needed.
3. Contact Cloudflare Support to request allowance of a CNAME setup for a specific domain. Mention CNAME setup for <domain> in the subject line.
4. Cloudflare Support will confirm the CNAME setup has been enabled.
5. A TXT record will appear in the Cloudflare DNS app under the Verification TXT Record section. Add the TXT record to your authoritative DNS.
6. After a few hours, Cloudflare will have verified the TXT record and sent a confirmation email.
7. Provision Universal SSL for the domain.
(Optional) Provision Cloudflare Universal SSL for CNAME setup
Cloudflare's Universal SSL certificate will be deployed once a domain is activated on the CNAME setup and proper Domain Control Validation (DCV) records have been added to authoritative DNS:
- Fetch DCV records from the Cloudflare API or via the Cloudflare dashboard:
- Log in to your Cloudflare account and select the appropriate domain.
- Click the SSL/TLS app.
- Click the Edge Certificates tab.
- Under Edge Certificates, click on the certificate where the Type is Universal and Status is Pending Validation to view the Certificate validation request and Certificate validation response information.
- Complete the certificate process. The default method for CNAME setups is HTTP.
- Add DNS records for the CNAME setup
Adding DNS records to a CNAME setup
Once a CNAME setup is enabled, DNS records must be updated in both Cloudflare's DNS app and your authoritative DNS:
- Add an A or CNAME record in the Cloudflare DNS app for the subdomain type: embedded-entry-inline id: 25FPvXmtnDU6ozPCJnVKhH
- Edit the corresponding CNAME record in your authoritative DNS to append .cdn.cloudflare.net to the hostname.
For example, when configuring www.example.com on a CNAME setup with Cloudflare, the CNAME record in authoritative DNS would need to point to www.example.com.cdn.cloudflare.net:
www.example.com CNAME www.example.com.cdn.cloudflare.net
CNAME records can be added to your authoritative DNS for each subdomain to be proxied to Cloudflare.
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