DNSCloudflareEmail

Point the domain at Cloudflare (DNS)

Q: What is DNS, in one sentence?

DNS stands for Domain Name System — the internet's public phone book. It turns a name a human types (www.pangaea.id) into the numeric address (an IP) a machine can actually connect to. Without it, browsers wouldn't know where to go. (See What happens when you type a URL and the glossary.)

Q: What does a nameserver do, and why move ours to Cloudflare?

A nameserver (NS) is the specific machine that holds your domain's phone-book entries and answers lookups for it. Whoever runs your nameservers controls your DNS. Today Hostinger runs them; in the steps above you point them at Cloudflare. That single move is the foundation for everything else — it's what lets Cloudflare serve the site from its global network, add HTTPS, run the firewall, and apply the root-to-www redirect. You only do it once.

Q: I changed the nameservers but nothing happened yet — is it broken?

Almost certainly not — that wait is called propagation. After you switch nameservers at Hostinger, the rest of the world keeps using the old answer until its cached copy expires. It's usually minutes, but can take up to 24 hours. The old Hostinger records keep serving the whole time, so the site never goes dark. You can watch the switch happen yourself with dig +short NS pangaea.id (see the steps above): when it stops showing *.dns-parking.com and shows the two *.ns.cloudflare.com names, Cloudflare is in charge.

By Harry Osmar Sitohang·Jun 2026·6 min

This is the foundation. Before Cloudflare can serve, secure and speed up the site, it has to own the phone book — be the authority that answers "what is pangaea.id?" That means moving the domain's nameservers from Hostinger (where we bought it) to Cloudflare. Here's the technical walkthrough — the part everyone gets nervous about: doing it without dropping a single email.

The handoff

Hostinger is the registrar — it owns the name. But whoever runs the nameservers runs the DNS. The move is one swap: point Hostinger's domain registration at the two nameservers Cloudflare assigns you, and from then on Cloudflare is your authoritative DNS (and your CDN, TLS and WAF ride along).

Hostinger (registrar — owns the name)set NS → 2× ns.cloudflare.comCloudflare (authoritative DNS + CDN/TLS/WAF)

One swap. Propagation is often minutes, but can take up to 24 hours.

Carry your email across first

Moving nameservers moves the whole phone book — including the records your email depends on. Cloudflare imports most of them when you add the site, but verify every one by hand, and keep them all DNS-only (grey cloud) — mail is never proxied.

The steps

Create a free Cloudflare account → Add a site → type pangaea.id.
Cloudflare scans your existing DNS and shows what it found. Check your email records came across (MX, plus SPF / DKIM / DMARC).
Cloudflare shows you two nameservers (like xxx.ns.cloudflare.com).
In Hostinger → Domains → your domain → DNS / Nameservers, switch from "Hostinger nameservers" to Custom nameservers and paste Cloudflare's two.
Wait for propagation (often minutes, up to 24h). Cloudflare emails you when the domain is active.

Copy the two Cloudflare nameservers exactly — one typo and the domain won't resolve at all
Confirm MX / SPF / DKIM / DMARC are present on Cloudflare before you flip the switch

Don't

Delete anything at Hostinger in a panic during propagation — the old records keep serving until the switch completes
Assume Cloudflare imported everything — DKIM as a CNAME is the one it most often misses

Verify the switch yourself

Don't only wait for Cloudflare's "active" email — ask the internet who holds the domain. From any terminal:

dig +short NS pangaea.id

While it still shows *.dns-parking.com (Hostinger's parking nameservers), the change hasn't reached you yet. Once it returns your two *.ns.cloudflare.com names — the specific pair Cloudflare assigned you — Cloudflare is in charge, and you can attach the Pages custom domains (Part 2).

Common questions

What is DNS, in one sentence?

DNS stands for Domain Name System — the internet's public phone book. It turns a name a human types (www.pangaea.id) into the numeric address (an IP) a machine can actually connect to. Without it, browsers wouldn't know where to go. (See What happens when you type a URL and the glossary.)

What does a nameserver do, and why move ours to Cloudflare?

A nameserver (NS) is the specific machine that holds your domain's phone-book entries and answers lookups for it. Whoever runs your nameservers controls your DNS. Today Hostinger runs them; in the steps above you point them at Cloudflare. That single move is the foundation for everything else — it's what lets Cloudflare serve the site from its global network, add HTTPS, run the firewall, and apply the root-to-www redirect. You only do it once.

I changed the nameservers but nothing happened yet — is it broken?

Almost certainly not — that wait is called propagation. After you switch nameservers at Hostinger, the rest of the world keeps using the old answer until its cached copy expires. It's usually minutes, but can take up to 24 hours. The old Hostinger records keep serving the whole time, so the site never goes dark. You can watch the switch happen yourself with dig +short NS pangaea.id (see the steps above): when it stops showing *.dns-parking.com and shows the two *.ns.cloudflare.com names, Cloudflare is in charge.

Don't panic-delete during propagation

Don't delete records at Hostinger during propagation in a panic. Nothing is broken — the old phone book is simply still answering while the change spreads.

With DNS pointed, the site needs something to serve: Ship it — Git → CI/CD → Pages. The plain-English story of why we chose Cloudflare at all is in our build diary: Point the domain at Cloudflare →.

Sources