In a prior post, we looked at the CDN provider Cloudflare as an option for speeding up our site. In this post, we will take the promised deeper dive into their offering. We will focus on the free features and note the paid ones available.
The Cloudflare Dashboard
When you log into CloudFlare, you will be able to select a website if you have more than one tied to the account. Then you will be taken to the dashboard screen. There is a lot of content on this page. The main tabs/buttons across the top are:
- Overview
- Analytics
- DNS
- Crypto
- Firewall
- Speed
- Caching
- Page Rules
- Network
- Traffic
- Customize
- Apps
- Scrape Shield
This list may seem like a lot to cover, but we will walk through each. Feel free to click along on your dashboard as we go.
Overview
The Overview tab gives you a summary of your account as noted by the title. You can manage your subscriptions here. However, the better feature is that you can place your site in “development” or “under attack” mode. The under attack mode is a great quick fix for a DDoS attack. This setting makes the CloudFlare routing include some intelligence that throws away obvious attack traffic. It is an excellent first step in trying to break through a DDoS attack and keep your site useful for members.
The development mode skips the caching, so your code changes are seen immediately. When the site is changed a lot, the results may not appear fast enough for developers. This feature provides a quick fix for that problem.
Analytics
This tab is your score card for using CloudFlare. The data shows you the traffic to your site, the cached requests, and the bandwidth saved. There is a lot more data here including threats and rate limiting. When you are configuring your site, this is where you want to grab a baseline and then compare changes. When you have a couple of different websites, you will be able to quickly see which types of sites work best with a CDN. As a bonus, they provide a way to tweet out your latest savings and give them a free ad. It is a bonus; I just failed to mention who it benefits.
DNS
The DNS tab can be daunting to those that are not used to DNS records. However, it is easy to manage. The data is presented as a list of DNS records for your site. These are URL addresses configured for your site, and each one has either a gray or orange cloud to the right of it. The gray cloud means CloudFlare is not being used for that address while an orange one denotes that it is. You can click on an icon to toggle between using CloudFlare or not. The default settings should be all you need. However, if you use aliases ( like mail.mydomain.com or ftp.mydomain.com), then those may not be configured to use CloudFlare. For example, I have a demo server I can reach through my domain via an alias (demo.mydomain.com), and I use CloudFlare for that site when presenting to a customer.
Crypto
The Crypto tab provides your encryption certificates and settings. Google is trying to keep everyone safe by requiring security certificates on sites. If your site does not have one, then it will score down for searches. CloudFlare provides a range of options for your site to match current and older encryption standards. Crypto is a topic that can get pretty deep and technical. That said, set the SSL to full for communication and turn on the Automatic Rewrites. These are a couple of steps that can help keep your data safe and get around a few encryption headaches. When you run a scan on your site with a tool like GT Metric or Google SpeedTest these pervasive HTTPS links will help your score.
Firewall
The CloudFlare firewall is easy to administer and should be familiar if you have used tools like Windows Firewall. The differences are that CloudFlare provides a challenge option as part of securing your site. This feature works by asking a challenge to visitors that appear to be malicious. Whether this is a bot hitting your site or a user, it at least provides another layer of security. You can adjust how sensitive the “malicious visitor” meter is via the Security level drop down.
The bottom part of the tab provides standard firewall rules. You can whitelist addresses to show trust in other servers or addresses. This is perfect for your trusted locations. There is also the option to block certain addresses. If you know an attack is coming from a single IP or range of addresses, then it is best to block them. There are also options to set an address to see a captcha or javascript challenge. Use this option to avoid scraping engines and other potentially malicious automated visitors.
Speed
This tab is where you get to tweak speed related options. Several of the features require a Pro or Business plan, but the free ones are very useful. The “auto minify” option reduces your source code sizes and helps improve download times. This is a standard tool used by sites, but having the extra CloudFlare protection helps avoid mistakes. Better safe than sorry.
Currently, the Mirage, Accelerated Mobile Links, and Rocket Loader are in Beta. These are potentially very useful for reducing page load times. However, I would test them thoroughly before enabling them on a production site. Not that I distrust the CloudFlare team, I just know bugs happen.
Caching
The caching tab is a little more advanced in usage than the prior ones. The trick with caching is that it assumes pages on your site will remain static long enough that CloudFlare can skip checking your site all the time. This is where testing is necessary. Try out settings for the cache values by running through “typical user” tests. Navigate your site and ensure that the experience is properly up-to-date.
Page Rules
This tab is where page rules like redirects are set. This is a little more technical in nature so click on the help link. If it does not make sense to you then move along there is nothing to see here. Note that there are limits to the number of rules you can implement at this level. When more rules are needed, there is an option to buy a pack of rules at a time.
Network, Traffic, Scrape Shield and Customize
These tabs contain primarily technical and premium features. If you are not an advanced user, then I recommend you ignore these. The default settings are fine for most sites.
Apps
I saved the best for last. The Apps tab provides a host of add-ons for your site. Many of these are free and help make your site seem more professional. Specifically, make sure you configure Google Analytics. The CloudFlare CDN approach should be completely compatible, but a proper configuration will ensure good data. The paid tools are worth reviewing particularly if you have an e-commerce site. The seals and security provided pay for themselves in increased customer conversions.
If you have not tried out CloudFlare, then hopefully this has opened your eyes to its features. I find it to be a great tool. Also, the free version is a perfect fit for any fledgling website. Even better, it offers features in a way that works with you as your site grows.
