DNS Migration to Cloudflare — Seamless (2026-03-11)

Overview

During the ^[1], Mark and Melissa completed the first phase of the sbswi.com DNS migration — moving nameserver authority from SiteGround to Cloudflare. This is a preparatory step that enables a fast, low-risk launch of the new WordPress site when it is ready.

The current site remains fully operational throughout this change. No visitor-facing disruption occurs because the Cloudflare DNS records continue pointing to the existing server until explicitly updated.

What Was Done

Logged into SiteGround under the Seamless account (sbswi.com)
Navigated to Domains → Settings → Name Servers
Switched from SiteGround's default nameservers to custom nameservers provided by Cloudflare
Confirmed success in SiteGround UI
Verified that Cloudflare picked up the domain and shows active DNS management

"Your domain is now protected by Cloudflare. So we have control over this domain now. When you're ready to point it, it's just a couple of minutes work."
— Mark Hope

How It Works

Record Type	Purpose
A record	Maps the domain/subdomain to a server IP address
CNAME	Maps a subdomain (e.g., `www`) to another hostname
MX records	Control email routing (Gmail in this case — left untouched)

Cloudflare now acts as the DNS authority for sbswi.com. All existing records (A, CNAME, MX, TXT) were imported automatically and continue routing traffic to the old server. No records were changed during this session.

Launch Process (When Ready)

When the new WordPress site is ready to go live, the cutover requires only a few minutes of work in Cloudflare:

Get new DNS records from the staging server (navigate to Domains → View DNS Details in the staging environment to retrieve the new A records and CNAME)
In Cloudflare:
- Delete the existing A records pointing to the old server
- Add two new A records pointing to the new server IP
- Update the www CNAME to the new target
Wait ~10 minutes for propagation — the site will switch

"If you do it at night or whatever, it goes quick."
— Mark Hope

Email records (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and the Google site verification TXT record should be left untouched during the cutover.

Key Decisions

Cloudflare chosen over SiteGround DNS for greater control, speed of propagation, and proxying capabilities
Non-disruptive migration approach — nameservers moved before the new site is ready so the launch itself is a minimal, fast operation
Credentials stored in LastPass for shared team access

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