In this article we are going to show you how to configure a domain in Cloudflare. Cloudflare’s security and performance services work together to reduce website latency and include free SSL (SEO improvement). Cloudflare also protects against DDoS attacks, abusive bots, and data filtering. If you want more information, you can find it on the Cloudflare website.
Add a domain to Cloudflare
To be able to use Cloudflare, the first thing we need to do is sign up on their website. The process is as simple as entering our domain and following the steps. Below, we leave you some screenshots of the entire process:
DNS Zones
Once we have changed the name servers to Cloudflare’s, we will be able to manage the DNS zones that were previously imported. We can also create, modify, or delete records.
DNS records that have the orange cloud enabled will benefit from the services offered by Cloudflare: cache, SSL, CDN, DDoS protection, and more.
Cloudflare Plans
Cloudflare offers different plans with enhanced features and protections for our website. Below is a list of the main features as of 06/02/2018.
Free Plan and Pro Plan, Business Plan, Enterprise Plan.
Free Plan:
Limited DDoS protection
Global CDN
Shared SSL certificate
I’m Under Attack™ mode
Access to Cloudflare Apps
3 page rules included
Pro Plan, everything included in the Free plan, plus:
Web Application Firewall (WAF) with Cloudflare rule sets
Image optimization with Polish™
Mobile optimization with Mirage™
20 page rules included
Everything included in the Pro plan, plus:
Advanced DDoS protection
Web Application Firewall (WAF) with 25 custom rule sets
Upload of an advanced SSL certificate
Bypass cache only on cookies
PCI compliance through the WAF and current TLS-only mode
Accelerated dynamic content delivery with Railgun™
Priority support
50 page rules included
Everything included in the Business plan, plus:
Enterprise-level support by email and phone, 24/7/365
100% uptime guarantee with a service level agreement and 25× refund
Advanced DDoS protection with priority IP ranges
Advanced Web Application Firewall (WAF) with unlimited custom rule sets
Role-based account access
Multiple SSL certificate uploads
Access to raw logs
Dedicated solutions and customer engineers
Access to China data centers (additional cost)
100 page rules included
Optimize my website
To optimize our website, we will go to the “Speed” section and enable the following options:
Auto Minify: Reduces the size of the source code on your website.
Polish: Improves image load times by optimizing them (gzip compression).
Brotli: Speeds up page load times for HTTPS traffic.
Mirage: Improves load times for mobile devices on slow network connections.
Protect my website
To secure our website, we will go to the “Crypto” section and enable the following options:
SSL: Encrypts communication to and from your website using SSL.
Always use HTTPS: Redirects all “http” requests to “https”.
Opportunistic Encryption (HTTP/2): Allows browsers to benefit from the improved performance of HTTP/2 and SPDY.
Additionally, in the “Firewall” section we will enable the following options:
Rate Limiting: Protects your website against malicious traffic by blocking IP addresses (additional cost applies).
Security Level: Allows you to choose different security levels.
Web Application Firewall (WAF): Blocks requests that contain malicious content.
Package: OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set.
Browser Integrity Check: Evaluates HTTP headers and blocks suspicious requests.
We hope this has been helpful, and remember: if you have any questions about this or any other issue related to your servers at Clouding, do not hesitate to write to support@clouding.io. We’re here to help with whatever you need—just ask us!