Using Cloudflare with Your EDZNET Hosting Print

Cloudflare can sit in front of your EDZNET-hosted website as a CDN and security layer. It caches your pages closer to your visitors and filters bad traffic before it reaches the server. This article explains how to set it up with your hosting, which settings matter, and how to remove it again. For background on why a CDN helps, especially for UK-hosted sites with South African visitors, read how Cloudflare makes IP location irrelevant.

You set Cloudflare up in your own Cloudflare account, not in cPanel.

Add your site to Cloudflare

1. Create a free account at cloudflare.com and choose to add a site. Enter example.co.uk.
2. Choose a plan. The free plan is enough for most sites.
3. Cloudflare scans your existing DNS records. Compare its list with your records in cPanel under Domains › Zone Editor and add anything it missed, especially MX, TXT (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and any subdomains.
4. Cloudflare gives you two nameservers. Change your domain's nameservers to these at your registrar. If your domain is registered with us, do this in the client area under Domains. See how to change nameservers.
5. Wait for Cloudflare to show the site as Active. This usually happens within a few hours.

Important: DNS now lives at Cloudflare

Once your nameservers point to Cloudflare, every DNS change must be made in Cloudflare's dashboard. Edits in cPanel's Zone Editor no longer have any effect. If we ask you to add a record, or you add a new subdomain in cPanel, copy the record into Cloudflare yourself.

Settings to get right

• Keep mail records grey-clouded (DNS only). Cloudflare's proxy only handles web traffic. Records used for email and server access, such as mail, webmail, cpanel, ftp and the host your MX record points to, must be set to DNS only. Otherwise email, FTP and cPanel logins will stop working. Your website records (example.co.uk and www) can be proxied (orange cloud).
• Set SSL/TLS to Full (strict). Your site already has a free AutoSSL certificate on our server, so Cloudflare can encrypt the whole path to it. Don't use Flexible, which often causes redirect loops on sites that force HTTPS.
• Watch AutoSSL renewals. AutoSSL proves domain ownership over HTTP, which the proxy can occasionally interfere with. If cPanel's SSL/TLS Status page reports errors for a proxied domain, see fixing AutoSSL or contact support.

Under Attack mode and security level

If your site is being flooded with traffic, set Cloudflare's Security Level to I'm Under Attack. Every visitor then gets a short browser check before reaching the site. Turn it off once things calm down, because it adds a delay for genuine visitors. The normal security level setting and the challenge passage time (how long a visitor who passed a check is trusted) can also be adjusted in Cloudflare's security settings.

Removing Cloudflare

1. Before you leave Cloudflare, make sure the records in cPanel's Zone Editor match what you have in Cloudflare.
2. Change your domain's nameservers back to ours. You'll find them in your hosting welcome email and in the client area.
3. Once the change has propagated (check with our DNS checker), you can delete the site from your Cloudflare account.