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Timed DNS policies

By default, Cloudflare Gateway policies apply at all times when turned on. With timed DNS policies, you can control when DNS policies are active. You can configure a policy to be active during specific time periods or set the policy to expire after a certain duration.

There are two timed DNS policy options:

  • Policy duration: The policy is active for a specific amount of time after being turned on (for example, 30 minutes).
  • Policy schedule: The policy is active during a recurring weekly schedule (for example, weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM).

Policy duration

You can use a time-based policy duration to set a specific time frame for the policy to turn on or configure an exact time for the policy to turn off.

To set a duration for a DNS policy:

  1. In Cloudflare One ↗, go to Traffic policies > Firewall policies > DNS.
  2. Create a new DNS policy or choose an existing policy and select Edit.
  3. In Apply durations and schedules, turn on Policy duration.
  4. In Input method, choose the type of duration:
    • Choose Duration and enter a specific amount of time until the policy turns off.
    • Choose Exact end date and enter a specific date and time in your account's time zone for the policy to turn off.
  5. Select Save policy.

When a policy turns off, it will remain off until you turn it back on.

Policies with a set duration will retain their duration when turned off or on. For example, you can create a policy at 12:00 PM and set it to turn off after six hours. If you turn the policy off at 3:00 PM and turn it back on 4:00 PM, the policy will still turn off at 6:00 PM, six hours after the original time.

Reset a policy's duration

When a policy's time duration expires, you can turn the policy back on for the duration you originally configured. To reset a policy's duration, select the policy and choose Reset policy duration.

For policies with an exact end time, you can change the time before the policy turns off. Once the policy reaches its exact end time, you will need to edit the policy and set a new end time. To set a new exact end time:

  1. Select the policy.
  2. Choose Edit.
  3. Turn on Set a policy duration.
  4. In Input method, choose Exact end date. In Date and time, enter a new date and time for the policy to turn off.
  5. Select Save policy.

Policy schedule

You can use Gateway to create a new DNS policy with a schedule or add a schedule to an existing policy.

  1. In Cloudflare One ↗, go to Traffic policies > Firewall policies > DNS.
  2. Create a new DNS policy or choose an existing policy and select Edit.
  3. In Apply durations and schedules, turn on Policy schedule.
  4. (Optional) In Time Zone, choose a time zone to apply the policy based on the time zone you select, regardless of the user's location. By default, Gateway will use the end user's time zone to apply the policy based on the local time of the user making the DNS query.
  5. In Schedule template, choose a preset schedule, or choose Custom schedule to define a custom schedule. You can choose up to three non-overlapping time ranges of 15 minute intervals.
  6. Select Save policy.

The policy's schedule will appear in Cloudflare One under Traffic policies > Firewall policies > DNS when you select the policy.

How Gateway determines time zone

If you assign a time zone to your schedule, Gateway will always use the current time at that time zone regardless of the user's location. This allows you to enable a policy during a certain fixed time period.

If you do not specify a time zone, Gateway will enable the DNS policy based on the user's local time zone. The user's time zone is inferred from the IP geolocation of their source IP address. If Gateway is unable to determine the time zone from the source IP, we will fall back to the time zone of the data center where the query was received.

Example: Fixed time zone

The following command creates a DNS policy to block facebook.com only on weekdays from 8:00 AM - 12:30 PM and 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM in the Chicago, USA time zone.

Required API token permissions

 At least one of the following token permissions is required:
  • Zero Trust Write
Create a Zero Trust Gateway rule
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/gateway/rules" \
  --request POST \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \
  --json '{
    "name": "office-no-facebook-policy",
    "action": "block",
    "traffic": "dns.fqdn == \"facebook.com\"",
    "enabled": true,
    "schedule": {
        "time_zone": "America/Chicago",
        "mon": "08:00-12:30,13:30-17:00",
        "tue": "08:00-12:30,13:30-17:00",
        "wed": "08:00-12:30,13:30-17:00",
        "thu": "08:00-12:30,13:30-17:00",
        "fri": "08:00-12:30,13:30-17:00"
    }
  }'

Refer to this table ↗ for a list of all time zone identifiers.

Example: User's time zone

The following command creates a DNS policy to block clockin.com only on weekends in the time zone where the user is currently located.

Required API token permissions

 At least one of the following token permissions is required:
  • Zero Trust Write
Create a Zero Trust Gateway rule
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/gateway/rules" \
  --request POST \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \
  --json '{
    "name": "clock-in-policy",
    "action": "block",
    "traffic": "dns.fqdn == \"clockin.com\"",
    "enabled": true,
    "schedule": {
        "sat": "00:00-24:00",
        "sun": "00:00-24:00"
    }
  }'