# What is DNS?

**Concept**

> **TL;DR:** DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet's phone book: it turns a human-friendly name like `example.com` into the numeric address computers use to reach your server. "Connecting to Cloudflare" mostly means pointing your domain's DNS at it.

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## What it is

You remember names, not phone numbers — your phone's contacts app does the lookup. DNS does the same for the web: type `example.com`, and DNS resolves it to your server's IP address.

The settings live in **DNS records**:
- `A` — points a name to an IP address
- `CNAME` — points a name to another name
- `MX` — points to a mail server
- `TXT` — used for domain verification

Your **nameservers** are the authoritative source for those records.

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## Why it matters

- **It's how anyone reaches you.** Wrong DNS = your site is unreachable, even if the server is fine.
- **It's the Cloudflare on-ramp.** Putting your site on Cloudflare means changing your domain's nameservers to Cloudflare's, so its network answers DNS and can sit in front of your site.
- **It powers verification.** `TXT` records prove you own a domain for many services.

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## FAQ

**What are nameservers?**
The servers that hold the authoritative DNS records for your domain. Cloudflare gives you two to set at your registrar.

**Will changing DNS take my site down?**
Done correctly, no — you replicate your existing records first. Changes can take minutes to a few hours to propagate.

**Where do I change DNS?**
At your domain registrar (where you bought the domain).

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## Related

- What is Cloudflare?
- What is MetaPilot?