Changing nameservers at GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Cloudflare

To point a domain at Flashcloud hosting, change its nameservers to ns1.flashcloud.com and ns2.flashcloud.com (or your VPS-specific pair if you're on VPS or a Dedicated Server, found on your service page under Information). The setting lives in a different spot at every registrar, but it's always a "Nameservers" or "DNS" section on the domain's management page. Below are the exact paths for the three registrars we get asked about most.

Before you start: if your domain is locked at its current registrar, you don't need to unlock it for a nameserver change (locking only blocks registrar-to-registrar transfers). If you're also transferring the domain itself, see unlocking a domain for transfer instead.

GoDaddy

1. Sign in to your GoDaddy account and go to My Products.
2. Find the domain and click the three-dot menu next to it, then choose Manage DNS.
3. Scroll to the Nameservers section and click Change.
4. Select Enter my own nameservers (advanced).
5. Remove GoDaddy's default nameservers and enter ns1.flashcloud.com and ns2.flashcloud.com.
6. Save. GoDaddy will show a confirmation warning that DNS records at GoDaddy will stop being used, that's expected.

Namecheap

1. Sign in and go to Domain List in the left sidebar.
2. Click Manage next to the domain.
3. Under the Nameservers section on the domain overview tab, change the dropdown from Namecheap BasicDNS to Custom DNS.
4. Enter ns1.flashcloud.com in the first field and ns2.flashcloud.com in the second.
5. Click the green checkmark to save.

Cloudflare (domain registered there)

Cloudflare Registrar works differently: domains registered with Cloudflare must stay on Cloudflare's own nameservers, so switching to ns1.flashcloud.com and ns2.flashcloud.com isn't possible there. Point the domain at your hosting with an A record instead:

1. Open a ticket from Support and ask for the A record (your server's IP address) for your hosting service. If you use Flashcloud email on the domain, say so in the same ticket and we'll include the exact MX, SPF, and DKIM records to add.
2. In the Cloudflare dashboard, select the domain and go to DNS > Records.
3. Add or edit the A record for @ (the root) to the IP we gave you, and point www at the same place (an A record with the same IP, or a CNAME to @).
4. Add the email records from step 1 if you requested them, so mail keeps flowing.
5. Start with proxy status set to DNS only (grey cloud). If you later turn Cloudflare's proxy on, set SSL/TLS mode to Full, never Flexible.

Your SSL certificate on our side issues automatically once the A record points here, the same as with a nameserver switch.

What happens after you save

The registrar sends the update to the domain's registry, and it typically takes effect within a few minutes to a few hours. Full worldwide propagation can take longer depending on cached DNS records elsewhere. If your domain is already registered with Flashcloud and you're only switching hosting, this step usually isn't needed at all, we set the right nameservers automatically. For the mechanics of why some resolvers see the change faster than others, see how long does DNS propagation take.

You don't have to move the domain's registration to change its nameservers. Keeping the domain at GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Cloudflare while hosting with us is completely normal, see can I use a domain I already own for the tradeoffs versus transferring in.

If the change doesn't seem to take

Double-check for typos in the nameserver values first, that's the most common cause of a stuck change. If it's been more than 48 hours and a checker like dnschecker.org still shows the old nameservers everywhere, or you're not sure your registrar's save actually went through, open a ticket from Support > New ticket in the portal. A real person can confirm what our side sees and rule out a typo or a registrar-side delay.