DNS Issues
Hello Everyone,
I am having issues with connecting a client’s domain to a website I built. I had client purchase a domain from Cloudflare and then I added the same domain to my own Cloudflare account. Everytime I try to connect the domain to the website I built, I keep getting an error that states that they couldn’t find a CNAME/A record pointing to the domain.
Is the client and I having different name servers attached to the domain causing the conflict? And if this is the case, will I have to make the client change the name servers on their account to my name servers? I’ve tried everything and can’t seem to figure out the problem nor can I find adequate support for this issue.
8 Replies
I had client purchase a domain from Cloudflare and then I added the same domain to my own Cloudflare account.If your client bought the domain from Cloudflare using their account, their account is authoritive for it and that can't be changed (it automatically adds the website to their account and sets the nameservers automagically). Would have to transfer it out to an external registrar to hook it up with your account (or transfer it out and then back into your account, but need to wait 30 days between transfers as per ICANN rules)
Ok gotcha, will they have to wait 30 days regardless of which method they choose?
And by external registrar, do you mean to a different host like squarespace or godaddy?
depends on what you plan on doing
no, registrar, the company who you use to pay for the domain
You can have Porkbun/namecheap as your registrar, pointing to Cloudflare DNS, using Squarespace as a host. All separate
I am on the free plan and they purchased the domain on Cloudflare. Am I missing something?
Cloudflare's Registrar is an addon value for existing customers, not a standalone registrar. Unlike standalone registrars, you can't freely change the nameservers of it.
Your client who bought the domain would have to add the records in their account under the domain. They could perhaps give you Domain Admin for that domain in their account and you could manage it that way. You wouldn't be able to add it to your account though (without transferring it out to a different registrar, so that you could change the nameservers).
Ok thanks for clarifying. So if they make me a domain admin for that domain, I could change the name servers and add the website to it?
You can never change the nameservers of a Cloudflare registered domain. You would just use the domain in their account, and you could add whatever A/AAAA/CNAME/etc records you need.
Perhaps I wasn't clear above, but when you buy a domain via CF Registrar, it's automatically created as a website within that same account
Makes sense, I will give that a try. Thanks for all the help 🙏