Cloudflare DNS Troubleshooting

The Problem

Something isn't resolving correctly, propagation seems stuck, or a specific record behaves differently than expected — Cloudflare's proxy layer adds a few extra variables beyond plain DNS that are easy to misdiagnose.

About this problem

Cloudflare adds a proxy layer on top of ordinary DNS, so what a record returns publicly can differ from what you entered. A proxied record returns Cloudflare IPs rather than your server's, which confuses lookups and tools that expect the origin address. Duplicate or conflicting records, a wrong proxy status or a stale nameserver setting at the registrar are the usual causes of odd behaviour.

People come looking for this when a hostname will not resolve, a recent change appears not to have applied, or email or a subdomain broke after an edit. Propagation is often blamed, but the real cause is frequently a record-level mistake that can be found by looking at the zone and testing resolution directly.

What's Included

• Reviewing all DNS records and their proxy (orange/grey cloud) status
• Checking for conflicting or duplicate records
• Testing actual resolution from multiple locations
• Fixing the specific issue and confirming it's resolved

What's NOT Included

• Issues caused by a different DNS provider still holding authority (nameserver mismatch would be identified first)
• Domain registrar-level problems
• Ongoing DNS monitoring

How It Works

1. I confirm which nameservers the domain actually uses by querying the registry, so I know Cloudflare is the authority.
2. I review every record in the Cloudflare zone, noting type, content, TTL and proxy status.
3. I look for duplicates, conflicting CNAME and A records, and records pointing to the wrong target.
4. I query the affected hostnames directly against Cloudflare's nameservers and against several public resolvers to compare answers.
5. I correct the faulty record or setting and re-test until all resolvers return the expected result.
6. I summarise what was wrong and what I changed, so you can recognise the cause next time.

In practice: you buy the service, send over whatever access or details the job needs, I investigate and do the work, and you confirm it's resolved before we call it done.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my domain not resolving even though the record is in Cloudflare?

Common causes are nameservers at the registrar not pointing to Cloudflare, a conflicting duplicate record, or a typo in the target. I check each of these in turn.

What do the orange and grey clouds mean in Cloudflare DNS?

Orange means traffic is proxied through Cloudflare and the public answer is a Cloudflare IP. Grey means DNS-only, where the record returns exactly what you entered.

Is it DNS propagation or a real problem?

I test from multiple locations and against Cloudflare's own nameservers. If they all agree on the correct answer, it is caching; if they disagree or are wrong, it is a configuration issue.

Can you fix the issue if my registrar still has the old nameservers?

I will identify that as the cause, but if the change must be made inside your registrar account, that is something you or I (with your access) would do separately, and registrar-level problems are not included.

Does this include monitoring my DNS afterwards?

No. It covers diagnosing and fixing the specific problem you report, not continuous monitoring.

My email stopped working after a DNS change, is that covered?

If the cause is a DNS record in Cloudflare, yes, I will find and fix it. Problems inside the mail server itself would be a separate matter.