Overview

This guide describes how to migrate your domain from a legacy DNS configuration to a Managed CNAME configuration. This migration configures automatic SSL renewal for domains that route through Acquia Edge powered by Cloudflare. The migration consolidates rules from multiple zones into a single zone. The migration also updates Page Rules to modern Rulesets. Acquia issues SSL certificates that renew automatically to minimize downtime during the migration.

This guide applies to customers whom Acquia identifies as eligible for the Managed CNAME program. If you are eligible, an Acquia team member contacts you to discuss the migration process. Customers who are not eligible remain on their current configuration.

Your migration path depends on your current infrastructure:

1. Legacy Partial CNAME Setup: Traffic routes through CNAME records but requires an update to the Managed CNAME architecture.

2. Legacy Authoritative DNS Setup: Acquia and Cloudflare act as your authoritative DNS provider.

What to expect

Tasks handled by your team

During the migration, complete the following actions:

1. Verify the list of hostnames scheduled for migration.

2. Specify your preferred launch order for the hostnames.

3. Confirm that the migrated rules meet your business requirements.

4. Allow access to the /.well-known path when Shield is enabled.

5. Update external DNS records to route traffic directly to Acquia Edge Managed CNAME.

Important: A migration from a full authoritative setup on Cloudflare requires that you transfer authoritative DNS hosting to a third-party DNS provider (such as Route 53, NS1, or GoDaddy). Acquia and Cloudflare do not host your authoritative zone files after this migration.

Tasks handled by Acquia Professional Services

Acquia Professional Services completes the following tasks before and during migration:

• Security audit and threat assessment

• Zone build and configuration

• WAF rule deployment

• Origin server configuration and health checks

• Cache rules and page rules

• Rate limiting and bot management, if applicable

• Go-live validation

Prerequisites

Before you begin, verify the following:

• You have access to your domain DNS provider (such as Route 53, Cloudflare, or GoDaddy).

• You have access to Acquia Edge powered by Cloudflare at dash.cloudflare.com.

• You have received your [name].acquiaedge.net CNAME target.

Migration options

Before you proceed, determine which legacy DNS configuration your organization currently uses with Acquia Edge:

• Option A (Partial CNAME): A third-party provider hosts your domain authoritative DNS. You route traffic to Acquia with CNAME records. This path requires only an update to your existing CNAME target value. This path requires no changes to your nameservers.

• Option B (Full Authoritative DNS): Acquia Edge and Cloudflare act as your primary authoritative DNS provider. Cloudflare hosts your full zone file. This path requires you to transfer authoritative DNS management to a third-party provider, recreate your zone records, and update nameservers at your registrar.

Option A: Migrate from legacy Partial CNAME

If your domain uses a Partial CNAME setup, the migration is lightweight. It does not require changes to your authoritative nameservers.

Step 1: Verify hostnames

Acquia Professional Services provides a list of hostnames scheduled for migration to the Managed CNAME configuration.

1. Review the list of hostnames.

2. Add notes for any discrepancies.

3. Identify any legacy domains to remove.

4. Specify the preferred launch order for hostnames.

Step 2: Verify migrated rules

Acquia Professional Services provides documentation that shows which rules transfer to the Managed CNAME configuration. This document shows how rules consolidate to streamline rule management.

1. Review the documented rules.

2. Add notes for any discrepancies or concerns related to rule transfers.

Acquia Professional Services adjusts the rules based on your feedback.

Step 3: Configure DNS routing and populate hostnames

Acquia Professional Services builds origin DNS routing from your existing DNS configurations. This process configures a default origin server and custom origin servers from your current DNS data.

Acquia Professional Services adds the verified hostnames to the Managed CNAME configuration as custom hostnames in your preferred launch order. Acquia Professional Services adds hostnames immediately before launch to ensure timely HTTP validation.

Step 4: Launch hostnames

Acquia Professional Services updates the legacy zone DNS to route traffic to the Managed CNAME configuration. This routes traffic through the newly migrated rules.

1. Update legacy DNS to route traffic to the new [name].acquiaedge.net configuration.

2. Verify that SSL and hostnames are active.

3. Verify that the site renders without SSL or origin errors.

4. Confirm that the site launch is successful.

Step 5: Complete hostname launches

Acquia Professional Services completes the hostname launches for Step 3 and Step 4 based on the order of preference defined in Step 1.

Step 6: Finalize DNS

Acquia Professional Services provides a final document with required DNS changes. Complete these DNS changes with your primary DNS provider:

1. Lower the DNS TTL to 5 minutes or less.

2. Wait for the DNS TTL change to propagate.

3. Update primary DNS records based on the details from Professional Services.

4. Verify that DNS has propagated.

Step 7: Clean up legacy configurations

Acquia Professional Services removes the legacy zone configurations. After cleanup, only the [name].acquiaedge.net zone remains available in the account.

Option B: Migrate from legacy Full Authoritative DNS

For applications that use a full authoritative DNS configuration, complete Steps 1 through 5 in Option A, and then complete the following steps:

Step 6: Finalize DNS

Acquia Professional Services provides a final document with required DNS changes. Complete these DNS changes with your primary DNS provider:

1. Export DNS records from Cloudflare with the Cloudflare user interface or the Cloudflare API.

2. Lower the DNS TTL to 5 minutes or less.

3. Wait for the DNS TTL change to propagate.

4. Import your DNS records into a third-party DNS provider using the exported configuration.

5. Update primary DNS records based on the details from Professional Services.

6. Verify that DNS has propagated.

Step 7: Clean up legacy configurations

Acquia Professional Services removes the legacy zone configurations. After cleanup, only the [name].acquiaedge.net zone remains available in the account.

Post-migration steps

• TTL management: If you lowered DNS TTL values before migration, reset them to standard values (for example, 3600 seconds) after traffic is fully stable.

• Deprovisioning requests: Confirm with Acquia Support that all legacy Cloudflare zones or old IP configurations from your previous setup are scheduled for deprovisioning.

Migrating from Partial CNAME to Managed CNAME