Best way to change DNS providers from Cloudflare to an EU provider?

[hakunamatata]

Due to the recent Trump administration shenanigans, I have decided that I will make concerted efforts to reduce my dependency on U.S. software companies, wherever possible. Ever since I came across Cloudron 4 years ago, I have been using Digital Ocean as my VPS provider. However this past weekend, I switched to Hetzner thanks to the number of satisfied users on this forum. The transition went smoothly with only one app (Nextcloud) running into some issues which I was able to resolve by myself using the official Cloudron documentation - so great job @girish @nebulon and the rest of the Cloudron team!

I have also been using Cloudflare DNS during the above period and while I have been happy with the services rendered, I feel that I need to change to a DNS provider incorporated in a country that respects global democracy, such as an EU member state.

Bunny DNS seems to be a popular choice on reddit and is supported on Cloudron. Does anyone here have personal experience with them? Are there other providers worthy of consideration?

And how would I go about migrating from Cloudflare DNS to a new provider with minimal downtime to applications hosted on my Cloudron server?

Thanks in advance for your feedback! Once the DNS migration is complete, I will start to look at migrating my outbound email relay provider (currently Amazon SES) followed by my remote backup provider (Backblaze) to friendlier destinations.

[p44]

I'll go little bit off-topic.

Decisions should be made by evaluating technical aspects and not political aspects.

Many of US companies offer excellent services and are the best worldwide.

If this is good for your business, then choose them.

Hetzner that you mentioned, for example, is excellent and does its job well, but you should not choose it because it is European or American. You should choose Hetzner because they are leader and they run very good their business.

If a company does its job well, then I think it should be chosen. Regardless of "political" factors.

I'll give you a practical example that involved me: some time ago, in for cheaper prices and for fiscal aspects, I chosed European provider "MailerLite", migrating from Us Mailchimp.

Well, after a few weeks I ran back to Mailchimp because many of the emails sent from MailerLite servers went directly into the spam of user mailboxes (American but also European).

Now, I can't tell you if there was a form of cross-boycott between Isp at the time, but I believe that choices should be made not out of politics (gut) but out of necessity (head).

About DNS provider, also Hetzner offer this service, but as mentioned, I'll stay with Cloudflare...

[BrutalBirdie]

Not going to deep here, but when you are running your Server on Hetzner, why not use the Hetzner DNS as well?

[joseph]

@hakunamatata said in Best way to change DNS providers from Cloudflare to an EU provider?:

And how would I go about migrating from Cloudflare DNS to a new provider with minimal downtime to applications hosted on my Cloudron server?

Many providers these days allow import/export of the zone file. So, export the zone file from one provider and import it into another. After you do this, just change the NS to (say) Bunny . This will make sure that all DNS entries (not just Cloudron related) are migrated properly .

After above, you can go to Domains view of Cloudron and change the provider to Bunny .

0 disruption.

[hakunamatata]

@p44 You raise several valid points. Infact when I originally setup the I.T infrastructure for my SME, I chose service providers primarily based on technical aspects. Secondary was the cost element, but I did not pay any mind to political aspects.

But recent events (e.g. Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump's ongoing global trade war) have changed my point of view where I now feel that it is important to make some political considerations as well. After all, as a business, when choosing a trade partner, you want to be assured of a certain level of economic and regulatory stability, both of which are closely tied to politics.

Have companies such as Digital Ocean or Cloudflare wronged me or my business in any way? No
Was I satisfied with service that I received from them? Absolutely yes
Are they directly responsible for the decisions being made by the current US administration? No
Is it unfair for me to stop purchasing their services due to no fault of their own? Perhaps so

In trying to find suitable EU software providers for my business, I am just trying to safeguard the business from any ill effects that could be caused by the political turmoil and uncertainty that lies ahead. It could be the case that in some scenarios, I am unable to find an EU based alternative and therefore must continue to use a US based service. And that's fine too. But at least I would have done what I could to reduce risk and exposure.

[hakunamatata]

@BrutalBirdie I was not aware that Hetzner offered a DNS service. Thanks for the tip, will check them out!

[hakunamatata]

@joseph Thanks for the step by step instructions... seems straightforward enough!

[p44]

@hakunamatata Thanks for sharing and expanding on your interesting point of view.

How can I disagree with your point... everyone is fed up with geopolitical uncertainty.

Please keep us updated on your research.

I recently connected to the interesting site https://european-alternatives.eu/ that I recommend you to view if you have not already done so.

[perelin]

@hakunamatata For simple stuff Im always happy with United-Domains. But if you need IaC, automation and APIs Hetzner, etc might be the better bet.

Off-topic as well, but we shape our modern society partly with our wallets. Funding contexts that we want to strengthen and defunding ones we (for whatever reason) do not want to support is part of modern live as conscious buyers and participants of our economies. From a company point of view political/compliance/risk reasons can very well be drivers for technical decisions, even if they steer away from the subjectively "best" solution. So I understand your approach very well. My company will not immediately switch established vendors we are already using. Migration cost is not 0. But for new investments we will also evaluate the current geo political situation (and risk) and probably lean towards european vendors in the future.

[Gengar]

@hakunamatata there is also Infomaniak, based in Switzerland, but atm it's not yet implemented in Cloudron, maybe one day (feature request here) ?
So we need to manage DNS records manually.

[hakunamatata]

@p44 @perelin @Gengar thank you for your suggestions, I'll be sure to check them out! Will post an update here once I have made a decision regarding a DNS provider.

[p44]

with pleasure @hakunamatata, keep us posted.