Beyond Basic CDN
Cloudflare has evolved from a simple CDN to a comprehensive platform for performance, security, and reliability. Properly configured, it can dramatically improve your site's speed, security, and availability.
DNS Management
Zone Configuration
Setting up DNS correctly is foundational:
- A Records: Point domains to IP addresses
- AAAA Records: IPv6 support for modern infrastructure
- CNAME Records: Alias domains and subdomains
- MX Records: Email routing (if not using Cloudflare Email Routing)
- TXT Records: SPF, DKIM, DMARC for email authentication
Best Practices
- Use Cloudflare nameservers: Required for full feature access
- Enable DNSSEC: Adds cryptographic security to DNS
- Configure proper TTLs: Balance between performance and flexibility
- Set up redirects: Use Page Rules or Workers for URL redirects
SSL/TLS Configuration
Certificate Management
Cloudflare offers several SSL modes:
- Full (strict): End-to-end encryption with valid origin certificate
- Full: Encrypted connection, accepts self-signed origin certificates
- Flexible: Encrypts visitor-to-Cloudflare, not Cloudflare-to-origin
I always recommend Full (strict) for production:
- Generate origin certificate from Cloudflare dashboard
- Install on origin server (Nginx, Apache, etc.)
- Set SSL mode to Full (strict)
- Enable Always Use HTTPS
- Configure HSTS for additional security
TLS Settings
Optimize TLS configuration:
- Minimum TLS Version: TLS 1.2 minimum (TLS 1.3 recommended)
- Opportunistic Encryption: Enable for email
- TLS 1.3: Enable for best performance
- Automatic HTTPS Rewrites: Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
CDN Optimization
Caching Strategy
Effective caching dramatically improves performance:
- Browser Cache TTL: Set appropriate cache durations
- Edge Cache TTL: Control Cloudflare's cache behavior
- Cache Rules: Customize caching per path or file type
- Purge Cache: Clear cache when content updates
Performance Settings
Enable Cloudflare's performance features:
- Auto Minify: JavaScript, CSS, HTML minification
- Brotli Compression: Better compression than gzip
- Rocket Loader: Defer JavaScript loading
- Mirage: Image optimization for mobile
- Polish: Image compression and optimization
Security Configuration
Firewall Rules
Cloudflare's firewall is powerful:
- Rate Limiting: Prevent abuse and DDoS
- IP Access Rules: Block or allow specific IPs
- WAF Rules: Protect against common attacks
- Bot Management: Distinguish humans from bots
Security Level
Configure security level based on your needs:
- Essentially Off: Only for development
- Low: Basic protection
- Medium: Recommended for most sites
- High: Aggressive protection (may block legitimate traffic)
- I'm Under Attack: Maximum protection during attacks
Page Rules
Page Rules allow granular control:
- Cache Everything: Cache dynamic content
- Forwarding URL: Redirects and rewrites
- Security Headers: Add security headers
- Disable Performance: Turn off features for specific paths
Workers & Transform Rules
Cloudflare Workers
Workers enable edge computing:
- Request modification: Modify requests before they reach origin
- Response transformation: Transform responses at the edge
- A/B testing: Route traffic for experiments
- Custom logic: Run JavaScript at the edge
Transform Rules
Simpler than Workers for basic transformations:
- HTTP Request Header Modification
- URL Rewrites
- Query String Modifications
Analytics & Monitoring
Cloudflare Analytics
Monitor your site's performance:
- Traffic analytics: Visitor statistics
- Security events: Attacks blocked
- Performance metrics: Core Web Vitals
- Real-time logs: Live request monitoring
Integration with Monitoring Tools
Integrate Cloudflare metrics with:
- Grafana: Visualize Cloudflare metrics
- Datadog: Unified monitoring
- Custom dashboards: Via Cloudflare API
Real-World Setup
For a client's e-commerce platform, I configured:
- DNS: Proper A/CNAME records with DNSSEC
- SSL: Full (strict) mode with origin certificates
- Caching: Aggressive caching for static assets, bypass for dynamic content
- Security: WAF rules, rate limiting, bot protection
- Performance: Auto minify, Brotli, image optimization
- Workers: Custom routing and header modification
Results:
- 50% reduction in page load times
- 99.9% uptime even during traffic spikes
- Zero successful attacks due to proper security configuration
- 40% reduction in origin server load
Best Practices
- Always use Full (strict) SSL: Maximum security
- Enable Always Use HTTPS: Redirect all HTTP traffic
- Configure proper caching: Balance freshness and performance
- Set up firewall rules: Protect against common attacks
- Monitor analytics: Understand your traffic patterns
- Test from different locations: CDN performance varies by region
- Keep configurations documented: Complex setups need documentation
Cloudflare is a powerful platform that, when configured correctly, provides significant performance and security benefits. The key is understanding which features to enable for your specific use case and monitoring their impact.