Before you begin
You will need to have access to your domain registrar (where you purchased the domain.
If you are unsure of your registrar, you can use a site like whois.com to get details about your domain, including the registrar.
Import current DNS records to Cloudflare
If you have not used Cloudflare before, look for the "Sign Up" link on their homepage. When it is time to choose your account level, their Free tier is sufficient.
The account creation process is fast. If you have questions about their process, you can visit this page: Creating a Cloudflare account and adding a website – Cloudflare Help Center.
If you already have a Cloudflare account for a different domain, you can add your domain from their dashboard: dash.cloudflare.com
Cloudflare will list your current DNS records for import.
Important notes regarding import
- Cloudflare will find most records, but sometimes it will not find all of them, especially if they are used only for verification purposes, not to actually direct traffic. You should compare the list of entries to be imported with the entries on your current DNS provider.
- Cloudflare offers a DNS proxy service. In general, this can be a nice feature. But depending on what your current DNS entries are used for, a proxy may cause something to break. DNS entries for email are especially prone to breaking. So, we recommend any imported DNS entries have the proxy setting in the off position on Cloudflare.
Changing nameservers
Cloudflare will walk you through the process of changing your nameservers. They have a detailed support article here: https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/205195708-Changing-your-domain-nameservers-to-Cloudflare.
All you need to do in that article is Step 1.
Essentially, you will copy the Cloudflare nameserver entries to your domain's custom nameserver fields.