Enabling Cloudflare Proxy for External Domain on OVH Shared Hosting

Domains and Hosting
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1

I have a domain with a non-OVH registrar (i.e. external domain), Cloudflare nameservers, and shared hosting with OVH.

If I enable Cloudflare Proxy, will OVH delete my multi-site records?

I'm asking because in this support document:

https://docs.ovhcloud.com/en/guides/web-cloud/web-hosting/multisites-configure-multisite

It says:

You need to quickly make these changes for your domain to be correctly added. Otherwise, your domain addition will be cancelled.

The A and TXT DNS records must be placed in your domain name’s active DNS zone for it to be added to your Web Hosting plan. Only AAAA DNS records are optional.

The TXT record for ovhcontrol will remain intact and visible, since it isn't proxied, but Cloudflare's Proxy will hide the A record.

I just don't want my website to go down if OVH's system eventually decides to delete my multi-site records because the A record OVH sees doesn't point to OVH's servers (even though it points to OVH in Cloudflare).

Thank you!

2

Hello @ovhcommunityaccount

It is perfectly possible to use an external domain name on a shared hosting plan. To do this, simply create a TXT record in your Cloudflare DNS zone in addition to the A and AAAA pointing records :wink:

The TXT record to set up looks like this:

    • Subdomain: ovhcontrol
    • TTL: default.
    • Target: The token visible in the multisite section of your hosting

For more information: https://docs.ovh.com/fr/hosting/multisites-configurer-un-multisite-sur-mon-hebergement-web/#etape-32-ajouter-un-domaine-externe

Astérix

3

Thank you for the reply.

What I'm concerned about is the part of the document that says:

You need to quickly make these changes for your domain to be correctly added. Otherwise, your domain addition will be cancelled.

Because if I turn on Cloudflare Proxy, the A DNS record seen by the world will be Cloudflare's server, not OVH's server.

So, I'm wondering if some automated script on OVH's end is going to notice my configuration doesn't have an A record pointing to OVH (since it's protected by Cloudflare's Proxy service), and mistakenly delete my multi-site records or something.

4

Hi @ovhcommunityaccount

The warning in the documentation (“You need to make these changes quickly…”) refers to the fact that, during the process of adding an external domain, OVH only gives a window for the TXT record to be present. Once the domain is correctly added to the multisite, it is no longer necessary for the A record to point directly to OVH’s IP for the record to remain.

To ensure Cloudflare’s proxy works smoothly with your hosting, make sure the IP you have set in Cloudflare’s A record is the IP of your OVH hosting (the one you see in the client area). Cloudflare hides that IP when the proxy is active, but OVH doesn’t need to see it to keep the domain added, as communication goes through Cloudflare.

So, rest assured, you can enable Cloudflare’s proxy without fear of OVH removing your multisite. The warning is only for the initial validation, and the rest of the process is transparent to OVH.

I hope I’ve cleared up your doubt,
Sergio TurpĂ­n