Cloudflare: how to set-up (DNS and name servers)

Question

First I thought that this topic was better suited for Server Fault, but after reading the FAQ I think otherwise.

So, I set up Cloudflare for my domain (I only want to use it as a free CDN), but the documentation of Cloudflare is hardly sufficient for a beginner as myself. The lack of clarity is even worse in my case, because my domain and my webspace are hosted at different companies.

When you put your domain in the Cloudflare website, it checks the website and tells you to change the name servers to two servers of theirs. Problem 1:

• Should I change the name servers of my domain host, or the name servers of my webspace host? (The latter didn't seem possible, so I suppose the answer will be the former.)

After that, Cloudflare gives a list of different domains/subdomains of your website and the DNS server and/or IP linked to it. But:

• When I go into the control panel of my domain host, most of these subdomains are also there - but with other IP addresses. Shouldn't they be the same? Should I change my host's IP addresses to the ones Cloudflare presents?
• Should I add all the subdomains that I can find on my subdomain's host to Cloudflare?
• Is it possible that I do not have to change any settings on my webspace hosting?

Please do not close this for "what have you tried". I have tried a lot of things, with subsequent crashes. Different employers of my host tell me different things, and Cloudflare hasn't answered my ticket yet. I thought, since there is a tag "Cloudflare", that some of you would have any experience with it.

Note to admin: maybe the tag "nameserver" and the tag "nameservers" should be merged.

Answer 1

The lack of clarity is even worse in my case, because my domain and my webspace are hosted at different companies.

The change only needs to happen at the registrar.

When I go into the control panel of my domain host, most of these subdomains are also there - but with other IP addresses. Shouldn't they be the same? Should I change my host's IP addresses to the ones Cloudflare presents?

This is what was picked up when we picked up the records from the registrar. If the actual hosting IP is different, then you should edit the subdomains to the correct ones on the CloudFlare DNS settings age.

Should I add all the subdomains that I can find on my subdomain's host to Cloudflare?

Yes, if they weren't picked up during the signup process. We will only pick up common subdomains (blog, mail, forums, etc.) during the signup process, but will miss things like if you dogs.yoursite.com, etc. (not common records).

Is it possible that I do not have to change any settings on my webspace hosting?

You do not.

Should I change the name servers of my domain host, or the name servers of my webspace host? (The latter didn't seem possible, so I suppose the answer will be the former.)

You change from the nameservers on file at your registrar to ours.