Cloudflare on single subdomain (www) while using Google Domains DNS for everything else

[user901]

Hi!

So… what I’d like to do is keep Google Domains DNS as my primary DNS, then use an NS record on the www subdomain, using Cloudflare for that domain.

But… I seem to be doing something wrong.

What I have is…

In Google Domains:
www NS 5m nile. ns. Cloudflare. com.

And in Cloudflare:
NS www managed by (Hosting company) 5 minutes

If I check nslookup <www.mydomain. com> , the correct IP address shows up.

If I check nslookup <www.mydomain. com> nile.ns.Cloudflare. com
I get…

DNS server handling your query: nile.ns.Cloudflare. com
DNS server’s address: 2400:cb00:2049:1::adf5:3bd6#53

Non-authoritative answer:
*** Can’t find www.mydomain. com: No answer

What am I missing?

[MarkMeyer]

Short answer: No.

You need to change the name servers for your domain to those provided by Cloudflare. From here you can delegate sub zones to other nameservers as long as they don’t expect the same configuration. I guess Google does.

[user901]

Since I am only trying to protect www, shouldn’t that be the only zone that is delegated?

[mnordhoff]

This won’t work. As far as Cloudflare’s DNS servers go, www isn’t where the zone cut is. DNS resolution will be weird and unreliable. And eventually Cloudflare will delete the domain because it’s seemingly inactive.

if you’re on the business or enterprise plans, you can use a CNAME setup.

https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200168706-How-do-I-do-CNAME-setup-

On the free or pro plans, you really have to move the whole domain to Cloudflare.