Cloudflare is a platform for protecting, accelerating, and ensuring the stable operation of websites. It combines CDN features, traffic filtering, caching, and DDoS attack protection. Let's explore how Cloudflare works and how to properly connect it to your site.
Security with Cloudflare
Once the site is connected to Cloudflare, all incoming traffic passes through the service's network. This allows you to hide the real IP address of the server and reduce the risk of direct attacks on VPS/VDS or dedicated servers.
Cloudflare also analyzes and filters requests, helping to protect the site from DDoS attacks, bots, and some automated threats. Thanks to its distributed global infrastructure, the service can handle large volumes of traffic and reduce the load on the server.
Speeding up the site with Cloudflare
Cloudflare acts as a CDN (Content Delivery Network) — a content delivery network. The service caches static resources of the site, such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files, on its servers in various countries.
As a result, users receive content from the nearest Cloudflare node rather than directly from the main server. This helps reduce page load times, decrease the load on VPS/VDS, and improve the stability of the site for users from different regions.
Connecting Cloudflare to the site
To connect the site to Cloudflare, you first need to create an account on the official service website and add your domain using the "Add site" button.
After that, Cloudflare will automatically scan the domain's DNS records and suggest transferring them to its system. Next, the user needs to change the domain's NS records to those provided by Cloudflare. After updating the DNS, the site will start operating through the service's infrastructure.
After adding the site, Cloudflare will prompt you to choose a pricing plan. In most cases, the free Free plan is sufficient for basic protection and acceleration of the site. If needed, you can choose a paid plan with advanced features and additional customization options.
After selecting a plan, Cloudflare will automatically scan the domain's DNS records and offer to import them into the system. For records that need to work through Cloudflare, make sure the status is set to "Proxied." In this case, HTTP and HTTPS traffic will pass through Cloudflare's infrastructure, allowing you to use caching, acceleration, and site protection features.
Next, Cloudflare will provide NS servers that need to be specified in the domain management panel of your registrar. To do this, copy the provided NS records and replace the current domain settings with them. After updating the DNS, the domain will start operating through Cloudflare's infrastructure.
In conclusion, make sure that the domain is already using Cloudflare's NS servers. After updating the DNS records, the site will start operating through the service's infrastructure.
After connecting Cloudflare, the user gains access to basic CDN features, caching, DDoS attack protection, and traffic filtering. This helps improve the stability of the site, reduce page load times, and decrease the load on the server.
Tools and capabilities of Cloudflare
Cloudflare provides a wide range of tools for protecting the site, speeding up page loading, managing DNS, and optimizing the operation of the web resource. The service combines CDN, caching, SSL protection, and traffic filtering features, helping to improve the stability and performance of the site.
Among the main features of Cloudflare:
- protection against DDoS attacks and bots;
- caching and content optimization;
- DNS record management;
- SSL/TLS and HTTPS protection;
- WAF (Web Application Firewall);
- support for HTTP/2;
- fast cache clearing;
- Under Attack mode for enhanced site protection.
Below, we will take a closer look at the main tools of Cloudflare and their purposes.
DNS Management and Domain Operations
Cloudflare allows you to manage DNS records through its own control panel, add new records, and modify existing settings. The service also helps protect the DNS infrastructure from record spoofing and certain types of attacks.
Speed Optimization and Caching
Cloudflare caches the site's static content and minimizes CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files, helping to reduce data size and speed up page loading. If necessary, the user can quickly clear the cache to make changes on the site available to visitors.
SSL/TLS and Secure Connection
Cloudflare supports HTTPS connections and provides SSL certificates, including free ones. The service also supports HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security), which enforces the use of secure HTTPS connections for site visitors. Additionally, Cloudflare supports HTTP/2, which helps reduce latency during data transmission.
Security Tools
Cloudflare offers a WAF (Web Application Firewall) that analyzes web traffic and blocks suspicious requests. To protect during attacks, you can activate Under Attack mode. The service also supports mechanisms to protect against bots and unwanted automated activity, including content scraping.
Email Operations
Cloudflare supports email forwarding settings and helps organize basic protection of email traffic from spam and malicious messages.
By combining security, caching, and optimization features, Cloudflare helps reduce server load, speed up site operation, and improve user experience.
Also read: DDoS Attack: Methods for Protecting Servers and Websites
Caching and Content Optimization
Cloudflare provides flexible caching tools that help speed up page loading and reduce server load. Users can configure the cache duration for different types of content, and static files — images, CSS, and JavaScript — can be cached on Cloudflare servers for faster delivery to users.
To enhance performance, the service uses a distributed network of servers in various regions of the world. As a result, content is loaded from the nearest Cloudflare node, helping to reduce latency and speed up site operation.
Integrations and Additional Features
Cloudflare supports integration with popular CMS and web platforms, providing plugins and extensions to simplify service configuration. The platform also supports additional tools for user interaction, including widget and online chat service integration.
Certain features of Cloudflare help manage the display of advertising content and optimize the operation of third-party scripts on the site.
By combining security, caching, and optimization tools, Cloudflare helps improve site stability, reduce server load, and speed up content delivery to users.
How to Remove a Site from Cloudflare
Cloudflare allows you to temporarily disable certain service features or completely remove the site from the system. Several modes are available for this.
Enabling Development Mode
In the Overview section, you can activate Development Mode. In this mode, Cloudflare temporarily disables content caching so that changes on the site are reflected faster in the browser. This is useful during design updates, CSS editing, or testing changes, although the site remains connected to Cloudflare.
Pausing Cloudflare
The Pause Cloudflare on Site feature allows you to temporarily disable traffic proxying through Cloudflare. In this case, the site will continue to operate directly through the server without caching and Cloudflare protection.
Completely Removing the Site from Cloudflare
To completely remove the site, go to the Overview section and select the Remove Site from Cloudflare option. After this, the site's configuration will be deleted from the Cloudflare account.
It is important to note that after removal, you need to change the domain's NS records in the registrar's panel and revert them to the previous DNS servers or the servers of the new DNS provider.