Overview

We will point your nameservers to Cloudflare, and point Cloudflare to WP Engine.

• If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Cloudflare will manage your DNS records and your current Domain Registrar will remain as your domain name registrar.

DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Option 1 (Preferred): Point your nameservers to Cloudflare, and point Cloudflare to WP Engine

Cloudflare is a service that helps manage your DNS for free with flexible record configuration types. It has the added benefit of configuring CDN, SSL, and even DDoS protection on some paid plans.

Until you point your nameservers to Cloudflare, no changes you make here impact your live site. We’ll walk you through setting up your records in Cloudflare before pointing nameservers, so the transition is smooth.

1. Open a new tab and navigate to www.cloudflare.com
2. Sign up for a free (or paid) account to get started
3. Enter your domain name when prompted
4. Cloudflare will automatically look up your DNS records and import them
5. Delete the one existing A record for your domain
   • The record name will be your apex domain (domain without www)
   • Or, the record may show a name field value of the symbol @

6. Locate and click Add Record
7. Change the Type dropdown to CNAME
8. In the Name field enter the symbol: @
9. In the Target field enter your WP Engine CNAME (found in step 6 here)
10. Click Save

6. Review the list of records again, locate the Name column and identify the row for www. This row will look like one of the two following options:
   • If the www record is a CNAME record type, no further changes are needed at the moment and you can proceed to updating your nameservers. It will look like this:
   • If the www record is an A record type and looks like this:
     1. Delete the single existing www record
     2. Click the button to Add Record
     3. Change the type to CNAME
     4. In the Name field enter: www
     5. In the Target field enter your WP Engine CNAME (found in step 6 here)

Update Nameservers

1. 1. 1. Cloudflare will show you two nameservers to change
         • You may need to scroll down a bit on the DNS page to locate the Nameserver section
         • Leave this tab open so you can easily copy them!
      2. Switch back to the tab where your current DNS Registrar was opened previously
      3. Locate section for Nameservers
      4. Click Change
      5. Select the option Enter my own nameservers
      6. Copy and paste the two nameservers from Cloudflare into the nameserver fields
      7. Click Save
      8. Back in Cloudflare, click Continue

The nameserver settings may take some time to change over. As they do, the Cloudflare settings will take effect, automatically pointing your DNS to WP Engine with the CNAME record we configured earlier.

To learn more about Cloudflare’s other services like CDN and SSL, head to Cloudflare Best Practices.

Point GoDaddy DNS to WP Engine

If you are using GoDaddy as your DNS provider, this article will help you in finding and configuring your DNS records to point to WP Engine. This step is required in order to go live with your website on the WP Engine platform.

NOTE: Before taking these steps, add your domain in User Portal.

Locate DNS Record Values and Login to GoDaddy
Option 1 (Preferred): Point your nameservers to Cloudflare, and point Cloudflare to WP Engine
Option 2 (Alternate): Point your A record to WP Engine, directly from GoDaddy

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Open a new tab, so you can easily copy and paste information.

1. Login to GoDaddy
2. Click My Products to see a list of your purchased domains
3. Select DNS next to the domain you wish to point to WP Engine

From here there are 2 options:

Option 1 (Preferred): Point your nameservers to Cloudflare, and point Cloudflare to WP Engine.

• If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Cloudflare will manage your DNS records and GoDaddy will remain as your domain name registrar.

Option 2 (Alternate): Point your A record to WP Engine, directly from GoDaddy.

• Keeps your Domain and DNS management at GoDaddy.
• You will need to manually update your DNS records if your website is ever migrated to a new server within WP Engine.

Option 1 (Preferred): Point your nameservers to Cloudflare, and point Cloudflare to WP Engine

Cloudflare is a service that helps manage your DNS for free with flexible record configuration types. It has the added benefit of configuring CDN, SSL, and even DDoS protection on some paid plans.

Until you point your nameservers to Cloudflare, no changes you make here impact your live site. We’ll walk you through setting up your records in Cloudflare before pointing nameservers, so the transition is smooth.

1. Open a new tab and navigate to www.cloudflare.com
2. Sign up for a free (or paid) account to get started
3. Enter your domain name when prompted
4. Cloudflare will automatically look up your DNS records and import them from GoDaddy
5. Delete the one existing A record for your domain
   • The record name will be your apex domain (domain without www)
   • Or, the record may show a name field value of the symbol @

6. Locate and click Add Record
7. Change the Type dropdown to CNAME
8. In the Name field enter the symbol: @
9. In the Target field enter your WP Engine CNAME (found in step 6 here)
10. Click Save

6. Review the list of records again, locate the Name column and identify the row for www. This row will look like one of the two following options:
   • If the www record is a CNAME record type, no further changes are needed at the moment and you can proceed to updating your nameservers. It will look like this:
   • If the www record is an A record type and looks like this:
     1. Delete the single existing www record
     2. Click the button to Add Record
     3. Change the type to CNAME
     4. In the Name field enter: www
     5. In the Target field enter your WP Engine CNAME (found in step 6 here)

Update Nameservers in GoDaddy

1. 1. 1. Cloudflare will show you two nameservers to change
         • You may need to scroll down a bit on the DNS page to locate the Nameserver section
         • Leave this tab open so you can easily copy them!
      2. Switch back to the tab where GoDaddy was opened previously
      3. Locate section for Nameservers in GoDaddy
      4. Click Change
      5. Select the option Enter my own nameservers
      6. Copy and paste the two nameservers from Cloudflare into the fields on GoDaddy
      7. Click Save
      8. Back in Cloudflare, click Continue

The nameserver settings may take some time to change over. As they do, the Cloudflare settings will take effect, automatically pointing your DNS to WP Engine with the CNAME record we configured earlier.

To learn more about Cloudflare’s other services like CDN and SSL, head to Cloudflare Best Practices.

Option 2 (Alternate): Point your A record to WP Engine, directly from GoDaddy

If you prefer to not use Cloudflare for DNS, not to worry! You can still configure your DNS settings right through GoDaddy’s dashboard.

1. Open the DNS page within GoDaddy
2. Locate the A record for your Apex domain
   1. The name will be @
   2. Or, the name field will show your domain
3. Click the pencil icon to the far right of this record to edit

4. Locate the field Points to
5. Update this field to:  104.196.145.254
   *Don't use the ip address in the example image
6. Click Save
   
7. Review the list of records again, locate the Name column and identify the row for www. This row will look like one of the two following options:
   • If the www record is a CNAME record type, no further changes are needed. It will look like this:
   • If the www record is an A record type and looks like this:
     1. Delete the single existing www record
     2. Click the button to Add
     3. Change the dropdown for type to CNAME
     4. In the Host field enter: www
     5. In the Point to field enter: @
     6. Click Save

That’s it! Now you just need to wait for GoDaddy to propagate these changes.

Configure DNS With 1&1

If you are using 1&1 (sometimes referred to as 1and1) as your DNS provider, this guide will help you configure your DNS records to point to WP Engine. This step is required in the process of going live with your domain on the WP Engine platform.

NOTE: Be sure to review our Going Live guide to ensure you have taken the necessary steps before changing your DNS.

Domain Connect
Step 1: Locate DNS Information
Step 2: Login to 1&1
Step 3: Point DNS

Domain Connect

1&1 is supported by the Domain Connect feature on WP Engine. This means you can simply add your domain to the User Portal and will be prompted to have any A records automatically configured in 1&1 on your behalf.

For more information on Domain Connect, check out our guide.

If you need to configure your DNS records manually, or are using CNAME flattening, proceed with the directions below.

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Step 2: Login to 1&1

1. Login to your 1&1 domains dashboard
2. Click Domains under My products in the left-hand navigation
3. You will see a list of your 1&1 domains in the center pane
4. Click the gear icon next to the domain you wish to point to WP Engine
5. Select DNS from the dropdown menu.

Step 3: Point DNS to WP Engine

Now it is time to plug in the settings from the WP Engine Overview page into your GoDaddy settings. Before doing this, it’s time to make a choice:

• Option A (Preferred): Cloudflare CNAME
  • If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Option B (Alternate): Point A record from 1&1
  • This will work just fine, but you will need to update your DNS records if your website is ever migrated to a new server. This method keeps your Domain and DNS management at 1&1.

Option A: Point Nameservers to Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a service that offers services like DNS management, CDN, Web Application Firewall (WAF), and even DDoS mitigation services. Before continuing, at this point you should open a new tab and navigate to www.cloudflare.com.  Here you can sign up for a free account to get started. Enter your domain name when prompted.

When you continue, Cloudflare will automatically lookup your DNS records. As it performs this lookup, click Next to select your Cloudflare plan. For the purposes of this article, we have chosen the free Cloudflare plan.

From here, Cloudflare will import your existing 1&1 DNS settings.

1. Delete the A record next to your root domain (ilovecutepuppies.org in this example)
2. Add a CNAME record
3. Enter the CNAME record from your WP Engine Overview page for your site
4. Click Add Record to save

5. Now, look to your “www” record
   • If it is already a CNAME record pointing to your root domain (ilovecutepuppies.org in this example), no further action is needed.
   • If it is an A record pointing to an IP address, perform the same steps to remove the A Record and replace it with the WP Engine CNAME record instead.
6. Once these steps are complete, click Continue.

In the next screen you will be prompted to change your nameservers to point to Cloudflare. This step is performed in the 1&1 dashboard.

1. Open your 1&1 dashboard
2. Click Domains
3. Select DNS
4. Click Name Servers at the top of the screen
5. Click Use custom name servers in the center pane
6. Copy and paste the custom name servers provided by Cloudflare
7. Save

Once the name server changes have propagated, your DNS will be pointed to WP Engine successfully! In the meantime, be sure to read our Going Live guide to ensure you haven’t missed any important steps.

Option B: Point Your A Record to WP Engine

If you choose to point your A Record to WP Engine, this will keep your DNS record management at 1&1. If you have not added your domain to the WP Engine User Portal yet, start by doing so now. On this pane, you may choose to use WP Engine’s automated Domain Connect system to configure your DNS automatically, or manually configure your DNS. Check out our Domain Connect guide for information about automatically configuring DNS.

If you prefer to configure DNS records manually, follow the steps below instead.

1. 1. Open your 1&1 dashboard
   2. Click Domains
   3. Select DNS page
   4. You will see a list of records, each of which have a gear icon on the right side of the screen. The two records you will need to edit on this screen are:
      1. @ Which indicates your root domain, or ilovecutepuppies.org in this example
      2. www Which indicates your www domain (www.ilovecutepuppies.org in this example)
   5. Next to each of the above, click the gear icon
   6. Select Edit record

7. Enter the WP Engine IP address, found in Step 1, in the Value field
8. Click the TTL (length of time in seconds for the record to become active)
   • In our example, we chose the lowest TTL of 1 hour.

9. After confirming the DNS changes are correct, click Save
10. Perform the same steps for the “www” record.

After the changes finish propagating across the web, your DNS will be successfully pointed to WP Engine! In the meantime, be sure to review our Going Live guide to make sure you didn’t miss any important steps.

Point Namecheap DNS to WP Engine

If you are using Namecheap as your DNS provider, you can use the instructions in this article to configure your DNS records to point to WP Engine. This step is required in order to go live with your new website on WP Engine.

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Log in to Namecheap

Next, login to your Namecheap account at www.namecheap.com. Upon login you should see a list of your domains. Next to the domain you wish to point to WP Engine, select “Manage” from the dropdown menu.

Then, select “Advanced DNS” from the top navigation. You will be taken to a list of records.

Update DNS Records

Now it is time to plug in the settings from the WP Engine Overview page into your Namecheap settings. Before doing this, it’s time to make a choice:

• Option A (preferred): point your nameservers to Cloudflare. If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Option B (still okay!): point your A record to WP Engine. This will work just fine, but you will need to update your DNS records if your website is ever migrated to a new server. This method keeps your Domain and DNS management at Namecheap.

Option A: Point Nameservers to Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a service that helps manage your DNS. It has the added benefit of configuring CDN, SSL, and even DDoS protection on some plans. Before continuing, at this point you should open a new tab and navigate to www.cloudflare.com. Here you can sign up for a free account to get started. Enter your domain name when prompted.

Then, Cloudflare will automatically look up your DNS records. Select Next and choose the plan you want (we will use the free option in this example).

From here, Cloudflare will import the settings from Namecheap for you automatically. In this screen, remove the existing A record for your domain. Then, add a CNAME record using the CNAME in the Overview page of your User Portal.

If your “www” record here is an alias of your domain or your WP Engine CNAME, you can leave it as-is. If it points to an IP address as well, you will need to perform the above steps for this record too.

Now you will be prompted to change your nameservers. This step will be performed at Namecheap. Cloudflare will show you two nameservers to change–leave this tab open so you can easily copy them!

In the dashboard for Namecheap, first select Domains list then Manage next to your domain name. Scroll down to the Nameservers section and from the dropdown select CustomDNS. Enter the nameservers provided by Cloudflare.

After doing this, click Continue back in the Cloudflare pane. The nameserver settings may take some time to change over. After this point, the Cloudflare settings will kick in, automatically pointing your DNS to WP Engine with the CNAME record we configured earlier!

In the meantime, be sure to read over our Going Live guide to ensure you haven’t missed any key steps. To learn more about Cloudflare’s other services like CDN and SSL, head to Cloudflare Best Practices.

Option B: Point A Record to WP Engine

If you prefer to not use Cloudflare for DNS, not to worry! You can still configure your DNS settings right through Namecheap’s dashboard instead. Remember: with this option, if your site is migrated to a new server, updating your DNS records will be required.

To point your Namecheap DNS to WP Engine, edit your @ record first. We will be pointing it via an A Record to the IP address showing in your Overview page at WP Engine. You can also edit the “TTL,” which is the time to propagate the change. In my example I have set the TTL to 5 minutes.

Now edit the “www” record. For “Type,” select CNAME record, and select to point it to your CNAME from the Overview page on WP Engine. When finished your DNS records should look similar to the image below:

Once you have saved your DNS records, all that’s left to do is to wait for propagation! After that, your DNS will successfully be pointed to WP Engine.

Point Google Domains DNS to WP Engine

If you are using Google Domains DNS or as your registrar, this article will guide you in steps to find your DNS records in order to point your domain to WP Engine. Pointing your domain to WP Engine is a required step in going live with your website.

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Step 2: Log into Google Domains

Now, log into Google Domains: https://domains.google.com/registrar

When you sign in you will see a list of any domains purchased through Google. Select “DNS” from the options next to the domain you wish to point to WP Engine.

You will now see a list of possible settings to configure. We will explain which settings to modify below.

Step 3: Update DNS

Now it is time to modify your DNS records at Google Domains to point to WP Engine. At this stage, you will need to choose one of two paths:

• Option A (preferred): point your nameservers to Cloudflare. If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Option B (still okay!): point your A record to WP Engine. This will work just fine, but you will need to update your DNS records if your website is ever migrated to a new server. This method keeps your Domain and DNS management at Google Domains.

Option A: Point Nameservers to Cloudflare

With this option, you will configure your DNS records at Cloudflare. First, open Cloudflare in a new tab. Click “Add Site” in the top right corner and enter your domain name when prompted.

While Cloudflare looks up your existing DNS records, you will have the option to select a plan. For the purposes of this article, we will be using the free plan.

When Cloudflare finishes querying your DNS records, you will see any existing records on this screen. If you have existing records, delete the existing A record and add a CNAME record using the information from your Overview page in User Portal.

If you don’t already have DNS records set up with Google Domains, you can add them at this time using the CNAME on your Overview page in User Portal. By setting CNAME records, if your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.

From here, Cloudflare will list name servers to use instead of your Google Domains name servers. This is a setting you will change in the Google Domains dashboard. Name servers are the first option–select “Use custom name servers” in this pane, and enter the name servers from Cloudflare here.

From there, you are all set! All that’s left to do is wait for the propagation of your nameservers over to Cloudflare, which can take some time. After this point, the Cloudflare settings will kick in, automatically pointing your DNS to WP Engine with the CNAME record we configured earlier! To learn more about Cloudflare’s other services like CDN and SSL, head to Cloudflare Best Practices.

Option B: Point Your A Record to WP Engine

If you prefer not to use Cloudflare to manage your DNS records, no worries! You can still manage your DNS settings with Google Domains instead. For this option, you will start at the top of the “DNS” page on Google Domains. Ensure the option to “Use the Google Domains name servers” is selected in the Name servers section, then scroll to the bottom. Under Custom resource records we will configure the DNS records for your domain.

Enter “@” in the first box, then select “A” from the dropdown menu. If you want your DNS changes to take place quickly, enter 10m in the next box to indicate a 10 minute change time. Last, enter the IP address from the Overview page in the space for “IPv4 address” and click “Add.” You have successfully configured your DNS for the “root” domain.

Now we will also want to configure the DNS for your “www” record. Enter “www” in the first box, and select “CNAME” from the dropdown menu. Again you can choose a faster propagation time, then put “@” in the last box. Last, click “add” to save your changes. You have now successfully configured both the “domain.com” and “www.domain.com” records for your website. Your records should look similar to this:

Now all that is left to do is to wait for propagation! The time to propagate the changes will depend on how long you set the “TTL” setting.

Point HostGator DNS to WP Engine

If you use HostGator as your domain registrar, this article will guide you in configuring your DNS to point to WP Engine. This step is required in order to go live with your custom domain on the WP Engine platform.

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Step 2: Log into HostGator

Open a new tab, and log into the HostGator Customer Portal with your credentials. You will see an account overview upon logging in. From here, click the “Domains” tab, which will automatically bring you to the “Manage Domains” screen.

Select the domain you would like to point to WP Engine in the list. In the following steps we will guide you in plugging the WP Engine settings into your HostGator account.

Step 3: Update DNS

Now it is time to plug in the settings from the WP Engine Overview page into your HostGator settings. Before doing this, it’s time to make a choice:

• Option A (preferred): point your nameservers to Cloudflare. If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Option B (still okay!): point your A record to WP Engine. This will work just fine, but you will need to update your DNS records if your website is ever migrated to a new server. This method keeps your Domain and DNS management at HostGator. Please note: HostGator does not allow customers to self-serve this option unless you have a web hosting package with them. Otherwise you will need to call HostGator Customer Support to request changes.

Option A: Point Nameservers to Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a service that helps manage your DNS records, as well as managing features like CDN, SSL certificates, and helping you determine how to manage the traffic headed to your website. On the higher tier plans available with Cloudflare you can even gain benefits like advanced DDoS protection.

In order to use Cloudflare you will first need to open a new tab and head to www.cloudflare.com. Here you can set up a free account and enter your domain name to get started. While Cloudflare queries your existing DNS records, you will be asked to select a plan. For the purposes of this article we have selected their free plan.

Change Existing Records

After selecting your plan, Cloudflare will display your existing DNS records with HostGator, and give you the opportunity to edit them. Remove the existing A record for your root domain, and add it as a CNAME instead, pointing to your WP Engine CNAME from the Overview page in your User Portal.

Now check the “www” record as well. Is it pointing to your root domain, or to the WP Engine CNAME? Either of these is ok, and will not require edits. However, if your “www” record is pointing to an IP address, you will want to perform the same steps for your “www” record. Save your settings and continue.

Name server update

You will be presented with two Cloudflare nameservers, which should be entered in the HostGator dashboard. In the HostGator dashboard tab, ensure you have clicked the “Domains” tab and select your domain from the list. Click the gear icon, then the “Name Servers” tab at the left. Select “Manually set my name servers” and enter the name servers from Cloudflare here, then save.

Now all that’s left to do is to wait for propagation of these changes. Name server changes can take some time to propagate, but afterward your domain will be pointed to WP Engine! Make sure you have followed the steps in our Going Live guide as you wait for propagation. To learn more about Cloudflare’s other services like CDN and SSL, head to Cloudflare Best Practices.

Option B: Point HostGator A Record

Before continuing, remember that the ability to make these changes yourself is not available without a hosting package with HostGator. However, you may still call HostGator Customer Support to request these changes.

With this option, select “Hosting” from the HostGator dashboard, then “Domains” from the menu.

Scroll down and select “Advanced DNS Zone Editor.”

You will be taken to a page where you can view your existing DNS records. Locate the A record for your root domain, and the CNAME record for your www record.

Now, edit these records to match the A records and CNAME records from the Overview page in your WP Engine User Portal. In this step, feel free to edit the “TTL,” which is the number of seconds it takes to propagate the changes you are making.

When you are done editing both records, be sure to click the Edit Record button to save the changes. After this is done, all that’s left to do is to wait for propagation!

Point NetRegistry DNS to WP Engine

If you use NetRegistry as your domain registrar, this article will guide you in steps to point your domain to WP Engine. This step is required in order to “go live” with your domain on the WP Engine platform.

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Step 2: Login to NetRegistry

Now, open a separate tab and navigate to the NetRegistry console at theconsole.netregistry.com.au. Once logged in, you will see a section on the Dashboard to “Manage your domains.” Select your “Edit DNS” next to your domain in the list here to continue. Then select “Zone manager” from the left-hand navigation menu.

In the following steps we will provide instructions for how to enter the settings from the WP Engine Overview page in the NetRegistry settings.

Step 3: Update DNS

Now it is time to plug in the settings from the WP Engine Overview page into your NetRegistry settings. Before doing this, it’s time to make a choice:

• Option A (preferred): point your nameservers to Cloudflare. If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Option B (still okay!): point your A records to WP Engine. This will work just fine, but you will need to update your DNS records if your website is ever migrated to a new server. This method keeps your Domain and DNS management at NetRegistry.

Option A: Point Nameservers to Cloudflare

Option A is to use a service called Cloudflare to point your DNS records to WP Engine. Cloudflare has several plan tiers, including a free option. Cloudflare’s services include SSL, CDN, more fine-tuned control of the visitors to your website, and even DDoS protection on some plan tiers. In this case, we are using Cloudflare to allow for CNAME flattening, which means that if your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.

To get started, head to www.cloudflare.com and choose to sign up. In the process you will be asked for your domain name. Cloudflare will look up your existing DNS records, and ask you to choose a plan. For the purposes of this article we have selected the free plan.

Once you confirm the plan, Cloudflare will show you the DNS records they found. Select the A records for your domain and www record in the list and remove them. Then, add CNAME records to replace the ones removed. The CNAME records should point to the CNAME showing in the Overview page of your WP Engine User Portal.

After saving, Cloudflare will show you two nameservers to change–leave this tab open so you can easily copy them! The new Nameservers should be entered in your NetRegistry dashboard.

Navigate on the NetRegistry dashboard to the Zone editor page. You will see some entries for your root domain with NS next to them. These are your nameservers. Click to update the Nameservers according to the Cloudflare instructions.

Once you save the changes, your DNS has been successfully updated! All that’s left is to wait for propagation, which can take some time. In the meantime, please review our Going Live guide to ensure you didn’t miss any important steps. To learn more about Cloudflare’s other services like CDN and SSL, head to Cloudflare Best Practices.

Option B: Point A Record to WP Engine

If you chose Option B instead, we will be staying in the NetRegistry console to update your DNS records. Scroll down to the bottom of the “Zone editor” page and you will find a listing of your existing DNS records.

Find the record that looks like: wowaverycoolwebsite.net. A

(The A Record for your root domain). Select to edit this record, and enter the IP address from your WP Engine Overview page.

Nearby, you should see a record that looks like: www A

(The A Record for your www subdomain, or www.wowaverycoolwebsite.net in our example). Select to edit this record as well, and enter the IP address from your WP Engine Overview page. When saving either of these records you will have an option to edit the “TTL,” which is the time to propagation of the changes you have made. We used 600 for our domain, meaning 600 seconds (10 minutes).

Following the example records and domain in this article, your records would look similar to this:

And that’s it! All that’s left to do is wait for propagation of the changes. The amount of time this takes will vary based on what you set for the “TTL” field.

Point Bluehost DNS to WP Engine

If your domain registrar is Bluehost, this guide will help you configure your Bluehost DNS settings to point to WP Engine. This is a required step to go live with your domain on the WP Engine platform.

Step 1: Locate DNS Information in User Portal
Step 2: Access DNS Records in Bluehost
Step 3: Remove A Record
Step 4: Configure CNAME Records
Step 5: Verify DNS Records

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Step 2: Log into Bluehost

1. In a separate tab, log into www.bluehost.com
2. Select Domains on the left navigation
3. Locate the domain you will be pointing in the main navigation window
4. Select Manage
5. Click DNS

Step 3: Remove A Record

On your Bluehost DNS editor page you will groups of various record types (Nameserver, A, CNAME, etc). Bluehost allows for CNAME (Alias) flattening, which means you can point both your www and non-www domain to a CNAME record value, in this case your WP Engine CNAME from Step 1. In order to do so, you must first remove any A record, which will be pointed to a static IP address, that could conflict.

1. Locate the A (Host) section
2. There is likely a host record here already for @, if so, click the 3 dot menu icon and select Remove
3. Once there are no records located under the A (Host) section for @, continue to Step 4.

NOTE: If you are pointing a subdomain (blog.somedomain.com, store.mydomain.com, etc.) this step can be skipped, as your apex record does not need to point to WP Engine.

Step 4: Configure CNAME Records

1. In Bluehost, scroll down to the CNAME (Alias) section
2. If your www host record is already configured as a CNAME (Alias) record, click the 3 dot menu icon and select Edit

3. OR, if there is no record currently listed for www click Add Record

3. Configure the CNAME record as follows:
   • Host Record: www
   • Points to: [Enter your WP Engine CNAME value from Step 1 here]
   • TTL: 4 hours
     • 4 hours is the minimum propagation for Bluehost. If you prefer a longer propagation time, increase this value.
4. Click Save

4. To add the second CNAME record for your apex domain (non-www), click Add Record

3. Configure a second CNAME record as follows:
   • Host Record: @
   • Points to: [Enter your WP Engine CNAME value from Step 1 here]
   • TTL: 4 hours
     • 4 hours is the minimum propagation for Bluehost. If you prefer a longer propagation time, increase this value.
4. Click Save

Now all that’s left is to wait for the changes to propagate! Your completed DNS panel at Bluehost should look like the following:

Step 5: Verify DNS Records

The last step will help confirm your records have been configured properly with Bluehost.

1. Login to the User Portal
2. Click on the Environment name you updated DNS for
3. Click Domains
4. A green check should appear next to each domain value if it is configured properly

5. If you see a grey icon, try refreshing the page in a few minutes. Propagation from Bluehost can take up to 4 hours.
6. If you see an orange or red icon, refer to this guide to learn what each status means and double check your steps above.

Point Register.com DNS to WP Engine

If you purchased your domain from Register.com (sometimes known as RCOM), this guide will help you point your DNS records to WP Engine. This step is required in order to go live with your domain on the WP Engine platform.

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Step 2: Login to Register.com

In a new tab, open the Register.com website and log in using your credentials. From the Account Dashboard section, hover over Domains and select Manage.

Next to the Domain entry for the custom domain you would like to edit, click Manage. You are now on the page where your DNS records can be modified. We will explain how to modify the records properly in the following sections.

Step 3: Update DNS Records

Now it is time to enter the DNS settings from WP Engine into your registrar. At this stage, you will need to make a choice about how to manage your DNS records:

• Option A (preferred): point your nameservers to Cloudflare. If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Option B (still okay!): point your A record to WP Engine. This will work just fine, but you will need to update your DNS records if your website is ever migrated to a new server. This method keeps your Domain and DNS management at Register.com.

Option A: Point Nameservers to Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a service that helps manage your DNS, among other services. Pointing your domain to WP Engine through Cloudflare offers other benefits too: CDN, SSL, routing rules, and more granular control of which traffic you want to allow on your website. Some Cloudflare plans even offer advanced DDoS protection! To proceed with this option, open a new tab and navigate to www.cloudflare.com to get started. Here you can sign up for a free account, and enter your domain name.

While Cloudflare is querying your DNS records, you can select a plan. For the purposes of this article, we selected the free option.

Now Cloudflare will show you the DNS records they found at Register.com, and you have the opportunity to review and change them before continuing. Remove the A record for your domain, and instead add a CNAME pointing to the WP Engine CNAME record as shown below.

When you continue, Cloudflare will display new Nameservers for you to use with Register.com. In the Register.com dashboard, edit the Nameservers to reflect the Cloudflare ones.

From here, all that’s left to do is wait! Nameservers can take some time to propagate the changes. Once the change finalizes, your Register.com DNS will be successfully pointed to WP Engine. To learn more about Cloudflare’s other services like CDN and SSL, head to Cloudflare Best Practices.

Option B: Point Your A Record to WP Engine

If you don’t want to use Cloudflare to point your DNS, no worries–you can easily edit the records directly on Register.com instead! If you choose this method, scroll down to the bottom of the Manage page on Register.com. Here you will see a list of record types.

Select A records from the list, and ensure the entry with a blank box in front of your domain points to the IP address in the Overview page on WP Engine.

Confirm the change, then navigate to the CNAME records page. Enter “www” in the box in front of your domain, and point it to your WP Engine CNAME from the Overview page.

Once your changes are saved, they will take some time to propagate. After propagation your DNS will be successfully pointed to WP Engine!

Point Amazon Route53 DNS to WP Engine

If you purchased your domain through Amazon Route53, the steps in this article will help you configure DNS settings for WP Engine. This step is required in order to go live with your domain on the WP Engine platform.

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Make a note of these settings, and leave this tab open as you continue through the following steps for easy copying!

Step 2: Login to Amazon Route53

Now, login to your Route53 dashboard at console.aws.amazon.com/route53/. You will be able to manage your DNS zones from the Hosted zones section from the left-hand navigation.

From this page, you will be able to add, edit, and configure DNS records for your domain.

Step 3: Update DNS Records

Now it is time to plug in the settings from the WP Engine Overview page into your Amazon Route53 settings. Before doing this, it’s time to make a choice:

• Option A (preferred): point your nameservers to Cloudflare. If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Option B (still okay!): point your A record to WP Engine. This will work just fine, but you will need to update your DNS records if your website is ever migrated to a new server. This method keeps your Domain and DNS management at Amazon Route53.
• Option C (advanced–clusters only): Use Alias record to point to ELB with Route53 DNS. If you are on a custom dedicated plan with clustered server architecture, you may optionally set an Alias record to point directly to the ELB name for your cluster.

Option A: Point Nameservers to Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a service that helps manage your DNS, as well as offering several security benefits. You can configure CDN, SSL, filter users, and even enable DDoS protection on some Cloudflare plans. Before continuing, open a new tab and navigate to www.cloudflare.com. Here you can sign up for a new plan with Cloudflare. There are many plan levels, but for the purposes of this article we will show how to use the free plan.

After signing up, enter your domain name when prompted. Cloudflare will then look up your DNS records and mirror them. In the meantime, select your Cloudflare plan (we selected free):

After selecting your plan, Cloudflare will display your Amazon Route53 DNS records. Remove the A record for your root domain, then configure a CNAME record for it instead.

If your “www” record on this page is set to be a CNAME alias of your root domain, or of your WP Engine CNAME, no further steps are needed. If not, you will need to perform the steps above for the “www” record as well.

When you continue, you will be prompted to change your nameservers with Amazon Route53. This step is performed in the Amazon Route53 dashboard. Leave the Cloudflare page open for easy copying of the new nameservers.

In your Amazon Route53 settings, select the nameserver settings (this will be the record with “NS” in the Type column). In the pane at the right, replace the existing nameservers with the one from the Cloudflare dashboard instead. The nameservers can take some time to fully switch over, but once the change is fully in effect your Cloudflare settings will kick in to direct your traffic to WP Engine! To learn more about Cloudflare’s other services like CDN and SSL, head to Cloudflare Best Practices.

Option B: Point Your A Record to WP Engine

If you prefer to go without Cloudflare, that’s okay! You can configure the DNS settings needed right in the Amazon Route53 dashboard. However, keep in mind that you will need to update your DNS if your website is ever migrated to a new server.

On the Amazon Route53 dashboard, click Hosted zones from the left-hand navigation and select your domain from the list. Here you will see a list of existing records. If you see any existing records with “A” and/or “CNAME” types in the list, you will want to edit these records. Otherwise you will need to add new records.

In the example above, an A record and CNAME record exist–these records will need to be edited to match the IP address and CNAME showing on the Overview page in your User Portal.

Start with your root domain, making an A record for it. Leave the “Name” field blank, and select “A record” from the dropdown menu. Last, in the Value field, enter the IP Address from the Overview page in User Portal.

At this stage you can also edit the TTL, or time for your changes to take effect. 300 seconds, or 5 minutes, is the default which usually works for most users. If you prefer, you may adjust this up or down. Last, save the record to ensure your changes take effect.

Now, create or edit the CNAME record. For name, enter “www” in the box and ensure “CNAME record” is selected from the dropdown menu. In the “Value” field, enter your WP Engine CNAME from the Overview page.

Feel free to adjust TTL for this record at this stage as well, before saving your changes.

Now all that is left is to wait for propagation of your changes! In the meantime, feel free to take this time to review our Going Live guide and ensure you have taken all the steps.

Option C: Use Alias Record to Point to Cluster ELB

If you are on a custom dedicated plan with a cluster, you may use an Alias record in your dashboard to point directly to the Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) for your cluster. To do this, you must perform a lookup of your [environment].wpengine.com CNAME.

In a Terminal window, type the following, replacing “environment” with your WP Engine CNAME:

dig +short environment.wpengine.com

You should see two domains and two IP addresses appear. One domain will be lbmaster-123456.wpengine.com, and the other will be a long string ending in .elb.amazonaws.com. The latter is the ELB domain to which you will need to point your Alias record with Route53.

In your web browser, navigate to the Route53 console and select Hosted zones from the left-hand navigation. Select your root domain (mycoolnewdomain.click in this example) and look to the right side to make edits. Just under the “Type” of record, select the “Yes” radio button next to Alias, and enter the .elb.amazonaws.com domain in the Alias Target box. Click Save Record Set to finish editing the record.

Now locate the “www” version of your domain in the list (www.mycoolnewdomain.click in our example) and ensure it is either set as a CNAME to your root domain, or that it is also aliased to the ELB domain.

Once your record changes propagate across the web, your DNS will be properly configured for your WP Engine domain!

Point DreamHost DNS to WP Engine

If you use DreamHost as your DNS provider, this guide will help you point your DNS records to WP Engine. This step is required in order to “go live” with your domain on the WP Engine platform.

Step 1: DNS Information *Use this information in place of the examples shown below

1. IP Address: 104.196.145.254
2. CNAME: ll2cwebsite.wpengine.com

Keep this page open as you continue through the following steps for easy copying!

Step 2: Login to DreamHost

Now, enter your login credentials at panel.dreamhost.com. Under the “Domains” section at the left, select “Manage Domains” from the list.

In the following steps we will help you update the records on file with DreamHost to point to WP Engine.

Step 3: Update DNS

Now it is time to plug in the settings from the WP Engine Overview page into your DreamHost settings. Before doing this, it’s time to make a choice:

• Option A (preferred): point your nameservers to Cloudflare. If your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.
• Option B (still okay!): point your A records to WP Engine. This will work just fine, but you will need to update your DNS records if your website is ever migrated to a new server. This method keeps your Domain and DNS management at DreamHost.

Option A: Point Nameservers to Cloudflare

Option A is to use a service called Cloudflare to point your DNS records to WP Engine. Cloudflare has several plan tiers, including a free option. Cloudflare’s services include SSL, CDN, more fine-tuned control of the visitors to your website, and even DDoS protection on some plan tiers. In this case, we are using Cloudflare to allow for CNAME flattening, which means that if your site is migrated internally with WP Engine, DNS changes won’t be needed.

To get started, head to www.cloudflare.com and choose to sign up. In the process you will be asked for your domain name. Cloudflare will look up your existing DNS records, and ask you to choose a plan. For the purposes of this article we have selected the free plan.

Once you confirm the plan, Cloudflare will show you the DNS records they found. Select the A record for your root domain in the list and remove it. Then, add a CNAME record to replace the one removed. The CNAME record should point to the CNAME showing in the Overview page of your WP Engine User Portal.

Upon saving, Cloudflare will display new Nameservers for you to use. You will need to edit your DreamHost nameservers for this step. Keep the Cloudflare page open for easy copying!

In the DreamHost dashboard, select “DNS” under your domain name. Then, change the DreamHost Nameservers listed to the Cloudflare ones instead.

After saving your changes, your DNS will be successfully pointed to WP Engine! All that’s left is to wait for propagation of the changes, which can take some time. In the meantime, be sure to review our Going Live guide to ensure you didn’t miss any important steps. To learn more about Cloudflare’s other services like CDN and SSL, head to Cloudflare Best Practices.

Option B: Point A Records to WP Engine

With this option, you will be updating the DNS records for your domain right at DreamHost. While this option works just fine, just keep in mind that you will need to update your DNS records here if your website is ever migrated.

With DreamHost, by default your domain is “parked” to point to DreamHost servers. In order to get access to add your own DNS records, you will need to “unpark” your domain, which could result in downtime until your new records are added.

You must also ensure that the Nameservers are set to those provided by Dreamhost, or you will be unable to edit your DNS records.

First, select “Deactivate parked” and confirm the change. Then select “DNS” under your domain listing.

Now you will be able to add new records for your domain. You will need to add an “A Record” for your root domain first.

To do this, leave the space before your domain empty, select “A” as the Type, and as the value, enter the IP Address from the Overview page in the WP Engine User Portal. Click “Add Record Now!” to finalize your changes.

Now we need to add the “www” record as well. For this record, enter “www” in the box in front of your domain. For Type, select “CNAME.” Last, enter the CNAME from your WP Engine Overview page in the Value section. Select “Add Record Now!” to save your changes.

Once this is complete, your domain will be successfully pointed to WP Engine! All that’s left to do is to wait for the propagation of your changes, which can take some time.

If you are using Email on your domain then we may need to do a little but more here.

First you want to copy off the email settings from your current Domain Name Registrar so you have them handy if needed.

Step One

In your current domain name registrar, copy or take note of the settings for the MX record
(if this record does not exist then you are not using email on your domain so you can skip this step)

Also copy the settings for your SPF record. (Don't worry if it does not exist then we will create a new one)

Step Two - If using Cloudflare, check the dns records and make sure the mx record is in place, if not add one using the settings from the current registrar that you have from Step 1 above.

• Step 3 - If a TXT records exists (either on Cloudflare or your current Registrar) and starts with v=spf, then edit that record and add:

  • 'include:mailgun.org' before the '-all' at the end of the record. So the record may look like this after that:

    v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:mailgun.org -all 
    (this example shows what it may look like if Outlook was already included in your file)

• If that TXT record does not exist then just add the record as follows:

  • Add a TXT Record

  • Add the following text to the record:  v=spf1 include:mailgun.org -all

  • Save the TXT Record