What is Cloudflare?
Cloudflare site Cloudflare is one of the largest content distribution network or CDN service providers; The main goal of this service is to increase the site’s speed by optimizing the file and also to increase the security of the sites against all kinds of attacks.
Cloudflare site Cloudflare is one of the largest content distribution networks or CDN service providers that can provide us with certain web services, Such as: reducing the size of all files based on IMG, sending quick responses to users, and as a result, fast loading of the site, and also increases the security of website pages.
You don’t need to pay to use this service, but if you want to activate some of its features on your site, you will have to bear the costs. Still, this service provider also has a free plan, and if you are a user and consumer, If you are simple and do not need special facilities, you can use the free program of this service.
What is Cloudflare, and how does it work?
In simple words, Cloudflare is an intermediary between the site and the user, which increases both site security and site speed, and provides CDN services, which is one of its main advantages; Content distribution network or CDN, which is an abbreviation of the word (Content Delivery Network), divides the content between different locations and sends data from the closest location to the requesting site.
For example, if you have a site and created it on a server in the Netherlands, you use Cloudflare to distribute your content. A visitor from Japan visits your site, and Cloudflare will collect your site data. It will not send from the Netherlands to the Japanese visitor because the distance between the Netherlands and Japan is geographically considerable, and it makes the loading and unloading of your site a bit long for the Japanese visitor.
Cloudflare will send your site’s data from the closest geographic location to Japan, where it has a server. In this way, the loading speed of your site will be slightly faster for different users from different geographical locations. Overall, Cloudflare makes your site load up to 40% faster.
CDN services usually consist of several dedicated servers in different locations worldwide, and Cloudflare is no exception, and all site data travels from these servers. When you enter a site that uses a CDN, your request is sent to the CDN server and processed, and the data of the desired area is sent to you from the server closest to your location.
The Cloudflare site claims that it has set up data centers in 200 cities and 100 different countries and has almost complete coverage all over the world, and your site is sent to your visitors from the closest data center by Cloudflare servers in the shortest possible time; To view the list of countries, you can use the Network section of Cloudflare website.
What are the benefits of using Cloudflare?
Note: If you are a site owner, using CDN is a perfect option for you, but if you are a web developer, you should not use CDN because it causes your files to be cached, and you cannot see the changes you have made at any time.
- Optimizing the site’s bandwidth consumption
- Compression of executable JavaScript, CSS, and HTML files
- Reducing the size of all files based on IMG
- Avoid sending unhealthy requests such as DDOS Protection and SQL Injection
- Ability to check and analyze bandwidth consumption
- Send a quick response to users and, as a result, fast site loading
- Consistently a high load of the site under the shadow of the Always Online feature
Of course, such systems have other advantages and features that we examined the accessible version of Cloudflare and did not go to their paid features.
Which sites are better for using Cloudflare?
Almost all static and dynamic sites can use CDNs and Cloudflares, but if your site has an online broadcasting system in the form of audio and video or has a streaming mode, maybe a CDN is not suitable for you. It may disrupt your site unless you want to very carefully exclude files being sent and received online that aren’t handled by the CDN.
How does Cloudflare increase site security?
You can have SSL in the accessible version of Cloudflare and set up SSL for your main domain and subdomains, which is essential for both site security and search engines.
In addition to using Cloudflare’s security certificate, it passes all requests sent to the site through various security filters and can quickly identify all types of intrusions and unhealthy demands. It should be noted that Cloudflare uses the HTTP/2 protocol.
Step-by-step tutorial for registering a site in Cloudflare Cloudflare
You don’t have any restrictions to register your site in Cloudflare, and you can record all domains with any extension; fortunately, IR domains can also be noted.
To use this server, you must first log in to your dashboard, and if you have not registered yet, you can note using the https://dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up link.
After entering the dashboard, you will see the image below, where you must click on the Add site option.
After entering your domain, Cloudflare asks you to choose the type of plan. You choose the last method, Free Plan, and then click on the Continue option.
In the new page that opens for you, you have to add records so that your domain is connected to the server through these records and reads the available information.
Click on the Add record option > Set the Type to A > Fill the Name with www > and write the server’s IP address in the IPv4 address > Select the Proxied option for Proxy status so that Cloudflare checks all requests.
Do the same procedure once more, and this time enter the name of your site in the Name field (for example, Ded9.com).
These two records only connect your site to the server; if you need to set up the email server and other things, you must add records separately.
In the last step, Cloudflare asks you to connect your domain’s DNS to Cloudflare’s DNS.
After setting the DNS, click on the option Done, check nameserver so that your DNS will be reviewed again by Cloudflare, and if it is set, you can use the features available in Cloudflare.
Up to this part of the training, you have successfully registered your site in Cloudflare and can benefit from features such as Cache, Firewall, and other features.
Frequently Questions:
Does Cloudflare increase site speed?
By optimizing different parts of the site, Cloud Flare can significantly increase your site’s speed, especially the site’s loading speed.
Does the quality of uploaded photos decrease by using Cloudflare?
Yes, it decreases to some extent; If you care about the high speed of the user, you can consider high-quality photos and reducing the image quality by Cloudflare to increase the site’s pace; The qualipicture qualityld be satisfactory enough and not too noticeable.
Can we use Cloudflare to prevent very extensive DDOS requests?
Yes, Cloudflare detects DDOS attacks in an advanced way and prevents attacks from occurring in networks on a large scale.
