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Important Announcement for Cloudflare Enterprise Users
If you have integrated Cloudflare Enterprise with your application, you don't need to activate Cloudflare CDN again. This article is only for those customers who are not using the Cloudflare Enterprise add-on but wish to use their own Cloudflare CDN.
Not only does Cloudways provide a blazing-fast hosting stack on its platform, but it also allows users to use Cloudflare CDN to reap the extra benefits of cloud hosting.
Advantages of Cloudflare CDN
Cloudflare speeds up websites by 100%, with 65% fewer requests and 60% lesser usage of bandwidth. It works with both static and dynamic content by caching the static resources including CSS, JavaScript, and images. You can also get an SSL certificate from Cloudflare.
It also protects websites from Denial of Services (DoS) attacks and identifies new types of vulnerabilities popping up by the passing minute. The best part is that Cloudflare comes with a Free plan.
How to Use Cloudflare CDN on Cloudways
Step 1: Create a Cloudflare Account and Add a Website
Visit the Cloudflare website and click on the Signup link at the top of the page.
Create a Cloudflare account using your email address and password. Click Create an account now to proceed.
Enter the domain for your website and then click Begin Scan. It’s not necessary to add www to the domain. For example, if your website is example.com, the domain will be example.com.
4. Cloudflare will scan the domain’s DNS records. This will take approximately 60 seconds to complete. Once the DNS scan has finished, click Continue.
5. A list of all the DNS records found is displayed, including your subdomains. Here you can route CNAME, A records, amongst others through Cloudflare servers by clicking on the gray cloud icon.
6. Select a plan according to your needs, the free plan for example, and then click on Process and continue.
Step 2: Setup Cloudflare Nameservers at Domain Provider
In this step, you are given the Cloudflare nameservers for your domain. The Cloudflare nameservers are assigned to your domain and listed on this page. You can also find your Cloudflare nameservers in your Cloudflare dashboard under Overview.
Finally, update the nameservers for your domain with the Cloudflare nameservers as shown above. Here are the steps required to update your nameservers:
1. Log in to the Cloudflare account and make note of your nameservers.
2. Determine your domain registrar (e.g. GoDaddy, NameCheap .. etc.) and login to your registrar account.
3. Update your nameserver records to the Cloudflare nameservers.
4. Confirm your changes through the Cloudflare dashboard.
After you have edited the DNS records, click continue and after a while, you will receive an email confirming that your domain is using Cloudflare DNS and is now being optimized.
Using Cloudflare with Breeze WordPress Cache
Cloudflare CDN requires no special configuration to work with Breeze WordPress Cache. If you have enabled Cloudflare minification, we suggest that you disable minification in Breeze.
That’s it! We hope this article was helpful. If you need any help, then feel free to search your query on Cloudways Support Center or contact us via chat (Need a Hand > Send us a Message). Alternatively, you can also create a support ticket.
Enhance your website's speed and security with Cloudflare Enterprise on Cloudways. Start optimizing today! Protect Your Site with Cloudflare.