DNS Migration Checklist: Move Your Domain Without Breaking Email or Your Website

Moving DNS hosting (for example to Cloudflare) is a common cause of broken email and “site down for some people” reports. Most failures come from records that were never copied. This checklist keeps the order safe.

1. Record everything before you touch anything

Run the domain through the DNS lookup and save A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS and any SRV records. If your current provider offers a zone file export, take that too. A lookup only shows names you query, so also check your provider’s panel for subdomains such as mail, autodiscover, _dmarc and DKIM selector records like selector1._domainkey.

2. Lower the TTL a day ahead

Set the TTL on the records you will change to a low value (300 seconds is common) at least one full old-TTL period before the move. This shortens the time resolvers keep the old answers.

3. Recreate every record at the new provider

Copy MX, SPF (TXT starting v=spf1), DKIM and DMARC exactly. Typical misses: the DKIM selector, a second TXT verification record, and mail-related CNAMEs. Keep MX priorities the same. If you use a proxy feature at the new provider, leave mail records (MX targets and the hostnames they point to) as DNS-only.

4. Compare old and new before switching

Query the new provider’s nameservers directly and compare to your saved list. Check MX and DMARC specifically, because those are the records whose absence silently sends mail to spam or bounces it.

5. Change the nameservers at the registrar

Replace the NS records at your registrar with the two or more nameservers the new provider gave you. Do not delete the old zone yet.

6. Watch propagation, then verify

Use the propagation checker to see the NS change spread across public resolvers. It can take up to the old NS TTL, and registries may cache NS records longer than other records. Then re-run the site, SSL certificate and mail checks, and send a test message to a different mail provider.

7. Clean up

After a few days of stable results, remove the old zone, raise TTLs back to normal, and note the migration date so the next person knows where DNS lives.

Common mistakes

• Switching nameservers before copying the DKIM or MX records.
• Leaving two SPF records instead of merging them into one.
• Proxying a hostname that mail clients connect to directly.
• Deleting the old zone while resolvers still hold the old NS.

Running these checks gives you a snapshot, not a guarantee: caches differ by network, so confirm from more than one location if a user still reports a problem.