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A Cloudflare Setup Checklist Everything to do and verify.BEFORE ADDING THE DOMAINExport or record your existing DNS zoneDURING... A Correct Cloudflare Configuration for a Business Website What good looks like.DNSRoot domain and www: proxiedMail hostname and MX: DNS onlycPanel, FTP and... A Correct Configuration for an Online Shop Additional considerations when selling.EVERYTHING FROM THE STANDARD CONFIGURATIONPlus the... Adding Your Site to Cloudflare The setup process.BEFORE STARTINGRecord your current DNS records. Export the zone from cPanel, or... Alternatives to Cloudflare Other ways to get the same benefits.OTHER CDN PROVIDERSSeveral offer similar services, some with... Always Online Serving a cached copy when your site is down.WHAT IT DOESIf our server is unreachable, Cloudflare... Always Use HTTPS and Automatic HTTPS Rewrites Two related SSL settings.ALWAYS USE HTTPSRedirects http requests to https at the edge, before... Authenticated Origin Pulls Ensuring only Cloudflare reaches your server.WHAT IT DOESCloudflare presents a certificate when... Blocking by Country: When and When Not A blunt instrument.WHY PEOPLE DO ITAttack traffic concentrated in particular regions A business... Bot Traffic and How to Handle It Automated visitors, wanted and unwanted.WHAT BOTS AREAutomated clients. Some are useful: search... Broken Functionality After Enabling Cloudflare Things that stop working.THE USUAL CULPRITSRocket Loader, which changes when scripts execute... CDN Versus Server-Side Caching Two different things people confuse.SERVER-SIDE CACHINGStores generated pages on our server. A... CDN and SEO Considerations Effects on search visibility.WHAT HELPSFaster pages, which is a modest ranking factor and a real... Caching HTML Pages at Cloudflare Making the proxy serve pages.WHY YOU MIGHTBy default every page request reaches us and runs your... Changes Not Appearing on the Site Stale content after an update.THE THREE CACHESYour application's cache Cloudflare's cache Your... Choosing Where to Optimise The order that gives results.THE HONEST ORDERCompress and resize images. Almost always the... Cloudflare APO for WordPress Caching dynamic pages properly.WHAT IT ISA paid Cloudflare feature that caches WordPress HTML at... Cloudflare Access and Protecting Admin Areas Restricting who can reach sensitive paths.THE PROBLEMLogin and admin pages are attacked... Cloudflare Analytics and What It Tells You Reading the dashboard.REQUESTSTotal, and the proportion served from cache.A high cache hit ratio... Cloudflare Email Routing Forwarding mail through Cloudflare.WHAT IT DOESReceives mail for your domain and forwards it to... Cloudflare Error Codes Explained What each number means.ERROR 520: unexpected response from the origin. Usually our server... Cloudflare Free Versus Paid Plans What the free plan actually covers.THE FREE PLANDNS hosting Unlimited bandwidth through the proxy... Cloudflare Is Down When the problem is theirs.HOW TO TELLCloudflare publishes a status page. Check it.If a... Cloudflare Optimisation Features Minification, compression and the rest.WHAT IS OFFEREDMinification of HTML, CSS and JavaScript... Cloudflare Pages and Static Hosting Hosting a site at Cloudflare itself.WHAT IT ISHosting for static sites, built from a repository... Cloudflare R2 and Object Storage Storing files at Cloudflare.WHAT IT ISObject storage for files, with no charge for data... Cloudflare Registrar and Domain Transfers Registering domains with Cloudflare.WHAT IT OFFERSDomains at cost, with no markup, and no renewal... Cloudflare Says the Site Is Fine and It Is Not When the dashboard disagrees with reality.THE SITUATIONCloudflare reports normal operation, and... Cloudflare Security Levels The global protection setting.WHAT IT DOESDetermines how aggressively Cloudflare challenges... Cloudflare Settings That Commonly Cause Problems The short list.FLEXIBLE SSLCauses redirect loops and is insecure. Use Full (strict).The single... Cloudflare Settings to Review Annually A yearly check.DNSEvery record still needed, and nothing missing Proxy states correct,... Cloudflare Terminology Explained The words in the dashboard.ZONE: a domain added to Cloudflare, with its own records and... Cloudflare Tunnel Connecting without exposing the server.WHAT IT DOESA connection established from your server... Cloudflare Web Analytics A privacy-focused alternative.WHAT IT ISVisitor analytics that does not use cookies or track... Cloudflare Workers and Advanced Features Beyond the basics.WHAT WORKERS ARECode that runs at Cloudflare's edge, between visitor and... Cloudflare Zone Export as a DNS Backup Records nobody else backs up.WHY THIS MATTERSNo hosting backup includes DNS records held at... Cloudflare and AutoSSL Making certificates issue correctly.THE PROBLEMAutoSSL validates a domain by placing a file on... Cloudflare and CDN: Everything That Matters, Briefly The whole category in one page.WHAT CLOUDFLARE ISA layer between visitors and our servers,... Cloudflare and Domain Verification Records Records other services need.WHAT NEEDS THEMSearch Console domain verification Business profile... Cloudflare and Email Keeping mail working.THE RULEMail never goes through the proxy. Records relating to mail must be... Cloudflare and Mobile Visitors Performance where most of your traffic is.WHY IT MATTERSMost Nigerian traffic is mobile,... Cloudflare and Our Support What we can help with.WHAT WE CAN HELP WITHWhether our server is responding correctly Certificate... Cloudflare and Staging Sites Keeping test environments separate.THE PROBLEMA staging site behind Cloudflare with caching... Cloudflare and Subdomains Handling additional hostnames.ADDING A SUBDOMAINCreate it in cPanel first, so the hosting serves... Cloudflare and Visitor IP Addresses Why your logs show the wrong address.THE PROBLEMWhen traffic is proxied, our server sees... Cloudflare and Your Server Resources What it does and does not reduce.WHAT IT REDUCESBandwidth, substantially, since static files are... Cloudflare for Reseller and Client Sites Managing it for others.WHOSE ACCOUNTThe client's. Their domain, their DNS, their account.For the... Combining Cloudflare With Server-Side Caching Two caching layers working together.THE ARRANGEMENTLiteSpeed cache on our servers generates and... Common Cloudflare Misconceptions What people believe that is not true.THAT IT MAKES ANY SITE FASTIt caches static assets. Pages... Creating Firewall Rules Blocking specific traffic.WHAT YOU CAN MATCH ONCountry IP address or range User agent Request... Custom Error Pages at Cloudflare What visitors see when something fails.WHAT YOU CAN CUSTOMISEThe pages Cloudflare shows for its... DNS Record Types at Cloudflare What each does.A RECORDPoints a name at an IPv4 address. Your main website record.AAAA RECORDThe... Deciding Whether Cloudflare Is Right for You An honest summary.USE IT IFYou receive attack or bot traffic consuming resources Your visitors... Denial of Service Protection Absorbing attack traffic.WHAT AN ATTACK LOOKS LIKEA sudden very large volume of requests,... Diagnosing Whether Cloudflare Is the Problem Establishing where a fault lies.THE QUICKEST TESTPause Cloudflare from the dashboard. Traffic... Error 1020: Access Denied A firewall rule blocked the request.WHAT IT MEANSOne of your Cloudflare firewall rules matched... Error 520: Unexpected Response From Origin Cloudflare could not understand our reply.WHAT IT MEANSOur server returned something Cloudflare... Error 521: Web Server Is Down Cloudflare could not connect to us.WHAT IT MEANSOur server refused the connection, or is not... Error 522: Connection Timed Out Cloudflare waited and got nothing.WHAT IT MEANSCloudflare opened a connection and our server did... Error 523 and 524: Unreachable and Timeout Two related failures.ERROR 523: ORIGIN IS UNREACHABLECloudflare could not route to the address in... HSTS and Minimum TLS Version Stricter encryption settings.HSTSTells browsers to use https for your domain for a stated period,... How Cloudflare Fits With Your Hosting Where each part does its work.THE PATH OF A REQUESTVisitor asks DNS where your site is Cloudflare... IP Access Rules Versus Firewall Rules Two ways to allow or block addresses.IP ACCESS RULESA simple list: an address, a range, a country... Image Delivery and Optimisation Serving pictures efficiently.WHAT CLOUDFLARE DOES BY DEFAULTCaches images at the edge, so repeat... Legitimate Visitors Being Blocked Protection catching the wrong people.THE SYMPTOMSCustomers reporting they cannot reach the site A... Mail Stopped Working After Cloudflare Diagnosing broken email.THE TWO CAUSESMX records did not import when the domain was added to... Managing DNS Records in Cloudflare Where your records now live.THE IMPORTANT POINTOnce Cloudflare's nameservers are in use, the DNS... Managing DNS for Multiple Domains Several sites at Cloudflare.ADDING EACH DOMAINEach is a separate zone with its own records and... Measuring Whether Cloudflare Helped Checking the benefit is real.WHAT TO MEASURE BEFOREPage load time, from a testing tool, at a... Migrating Away From Cloudflare to Another Provider Moving DNS elsewhere.BEFORE STARTINGExport the zone from Cloudflare. That file is your record of... Monitoring a Site Behind a CDN Knowing whether it is actually up.THE COMPLICATIONA monitoring service checking your domain... Moving Nameservers to Cloudflare The switch itself.BEFORE SWITCHINGEvery record reviewed and correct in Cloudflare Proxy states... Page Rules and Cache Rules Configuring behaviour per URL.WHAT THEY DOApply settings to URLs matching a pattern: caching... Protecting Your Origin Server Address Preventing Cloudflare being bypassed.THE PROBLEMIf an attacker learns the address of our server,... Proxied Versus DNS Only The single most important setting.THE ORANGE CLOUDIn the Cloudflare DNS panel, each record has a... Purging the Cloudflare Cache Clearing stored copies.WHEN YOU NEED TOAfter changing a stylesheet or script After updating an... Rate Limiting Restricting how often something can be requested.WHAT IT DOESCounts requests from an address to a... Redirect Loop After Enabling Cloudflare The most common Cloudflare complaint.THE CAUSEThe SSL mode is set to Flexible. Cloudflare... Redirect Rules at Cloudflare Sending one address to another.WHAT THEY DORedirect a URL or pattern to another, at the edge,... Removing Cloudflare Going back to direct hosting.WHEN YOU MIGHTThe proxy causes more trouble than it solves You want... SSL Errors With Cloudflare Certificate problems in the path.THE TWO CERTIFICATESVisitor to Cloudflare, which Cloudflare... Scrape Shield: Email Obfuscation and Hotlink Protection Two smaller protective features.EMAIL OBFUSCATIONHides email addresses in your page source from... Serving Media from Object Storage Separating files from your hosting.WHAT IT MEANSUploaded images, documents and video stored with... Setting the SSL Mode Correctly The setting that causes the most problems.THE MODESOff: no encryption. Never use this.Flexible:... Should You Use Cloudflare? An honest assessment.WHEN IT HELPSVisitors far from the server, who get cached content from... Site Slower After Enabling Cloudflare When the proxy makes things worse.WHY IT CAN HAPPENAn extra hop between visitor and server... Subdomain Delegation and NS Records Pointing part of your domain elsewhere.WHEN YOU NEED ITA subdomain managed by a different... TTL Settings and Propagation How quickly changes take effect.WHAT TTL ISHow long a resolver may keep a record before asking... The WordPress Cloudflare Plugin Integrating the two.WHAT IT DOESRestores real visitor IP addresses, so your site does not see... Turnstile and Bot Verification Cloudflare's alternative to a captcha.WHAT IT ISA verification widget for forms, confirming a... Understanding Cloudflare Caching Levels What gets stored and for how long.THE CACHING LEVEL SETTINGStandard, which treats different query... Using Cloudflare Purely for DNS The proxy is optional.THE CONFIGURATIONCloudflare's nameservers, with every record set to DNS... Waiting Room and Traffic Queuing Managing extreme spikes.WHAT IT DOESWhen traffic exceeds a threshold, additional visitors are... What Cloudflare Actually Does The service explained plainly.THE BASIC IDEACloudflare sits between your visitors and our... What Cloudflare Caches by Default Understanding what is and is not stored.CACHED BY DEFAULTStatic files: images, stylesheets,... What a CDN Is and How It Works The general concept.THE IDEACopies of your static files held at many locations around the world.... What to Check After Any Cloudflare Change A short verification routine.THE SITELoads over https with no warning Inner pages load Images... When to Ask Us and When to Ask Cloudflare Directing the question correctly.ASK USThe site is unreachable and you want to know whether our... Which DNS Records to Proxy Getting the cloud icons right.PROXY THESEThe root domain A record The www record Any subdomain... Zaraz and Third-Party Script Management Moving tracking scripts off the browser.WHAT IT DOESLoads third-party scripts, such as analytics...
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