INSIGHT

11 Mar 2019

A content delivery network (CDN) is broadly a geographically distributed cluster of servers which have come close and work towards providing quick delivery of the web content. A content delivery network allows for the quick transfer of the assets which are required loading the Internet content including specifications such as the HTML pages, javascript files, stylesheets, images, and videos and other media sources. CDN has become popular as its services are continuously growing in today’s world and a lot of web traffic is served though it. Traffic from major sites of networking like Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon are also included in it.

Not just this, a properly configured CDN has more features such as protecting websites against some common malicious attacks and viruses, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks. Speeding up your website’s loading time is another major contribution of CDN and we all know that it is is one of the most important factors for search engine rankings these days. These features make using a content delivery network is highly recommended.

Now learning what is Cloudflare CDN and it is recommended?

Cloudflare CDN (Content Delivery Network) caches the most popular content of your website on it's strategically located servers over the globe. Every web page access request is served by a server that is closest to the requesting machine and aside from just caching the content, additionally it serves optimized versions of your webpages by minifying JavaScript and also has an extra layer of security by challenging attackers and spambots and thus filters the unwanted traffic ahead of the request reaches your server.

So much in just one software? YES, we were shocked to learn this too. It has to be admitted that it is quite impressive.The features provided help to increase the performance as the server load keeps on decreasing. Also, the cached version of your web pages is served when your web server goes offline due to maintenance.

The best part is that the basic use of Cloudflare CDN is free. You only need to learn how to set it up with the guide of the best settings. Let us go into the details and learn how is is done.

Nowadays, certain web hosting companies like Bluehost and HostGator have installed Cloudflare in their cPanel, and it can be installed with just one simple click. All you need to do is log on to the hosting cPanel dashboard, and look for the Cloudflare logo under the advanced settings (you might also see the Cloudflare icon). Once you do, proceed with the automatic installation or else you will have set up Cloudflare manually.

In case you see such an icon, it will be really simple for you to quickly configure Cloudflare for your website via cPanel instantly and directly, or else you will have to manually set it up by updating the DNS records. Due to this reason, we will learn the settings for both the situations:

1) The automatic Setup of Cloudflare via cPanel hosting:

a) Click on the Cloudflare icon under the Advanced Tab on your screen. There, you will

2) The manual Setup or installation of Cloudflare:

a) Log on to the official website of Cloudflare, http://www.cloudflare.com/ and register for a new account. The website will ask you to fill up a sign-up form, complete the needful.

b) After that you would be asked to add your website by entering the URL which is shown to you.

c) Thereafter, Cloudflare will scan your existing domain and hosting records and act accordingly.

A short scan will follow this process and will most likely take a few seconds. After the completion of the scan, you will be redirected to a different DNS Zone file where all records that have been successfully transferred will be verified. This is will allow you to choose and to keep particular subdomains on or off your Cloudflare network. While an orange cloud represents that the specific subdomain is most likely to be cached and will be served through Cloudflare, a gray cloud represents that the particular subdomain will bypass Cloudflare and all requests will probably go directly to the web server.

This does not end here.

d) The next will require you to select a suitable plan for your Cloudflare account. Though the basic plan of Cloudflare is free, you may choose a paid plan based on your requirements in case you need the additional features.

e) Towards the end, Cloudflare will be providing you with two DNS name servers. For example, xyz.cloudflare.com. Now, all you will have to do is to replace your the DNS name servers on your domain name management dashboard with the ones provided by the Cloudflare setup and wait for them to resolve automatically. This may take up to 24 hours so you will have to be patient.

With this, your Cloudflare will be ready to provide you all the excellent and resourceful features of Content Delivery Network. All you have to do this, follow these simple yet the best settings available for this software.