Set up advanced nameservers

Advanced nameservers included with Foundation DNS are an opt-in configuration.

Enable on a zone

To enable advanced nameservers on an existing zone:

1. Opt for advanced nameservers on your zone:

   Dashboard
   1. Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard ↗ and select your account and domain.
   2. Go to DNS > Records.
   3. In the Cloudflare nameservers card, enable Advanced nameservers.
   4. After you refresh the page, the card will display the values for your advanced nameservers NS records.
   API

   Use the Update DNS Settings endpoint to send a PATCH request like the following:

   curl --request PATCH \
   "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/dns_settings" \
   --header "X-Auth-Email: <EMAIL>" \
   --header "X-Auth-Key: <API_KEY>" \
   --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
   --data '{
     "foundation_dns": true
   }'

   The response body will contain your assigned namservers in the nameservers object. You will use these nameservers in the next step.

2. Update the authoritative nameservers at your registrar. This step depends on whether you are using Cloudflare Registrar:

   • If you are using Cloudflare Registrar, contact Cloudflare Support to have your nameservers updated.

   • If you are using a different registrar or if your zone is delegated to a parent zone, manually update your nameservers.

     Warning

     Make sure the values for your assigned nameservers are copied exactly.