Cloudflare: Content Delivery Network and DDoS Mitigation for Website Performance and Security

In today’s digital world, speed, security, and reliability are paramount when it comes to delivering web content to users worldwide. As websites become more complex and traffic surges increase, businesses increasingly turn to content delivery networks (CDNs) and advanced security solutions to optimize their online presence. One company at the forefront of these technologies is Cloudflare.

Known for its powerful and scalable services, Cloudflare not only enhances website performance through its CDN, but also offers cutting-edge protection against Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. In this article, we’ll dive into how Cloudflare works and how it optimizes content delivery. We’ll also discuss why its DDoS mitigation capabilities are a game-changer for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a website owner looking to improve load times or a security-conscious enterprise seeking to defend against cyber threats, Cloudflare is a name you need to know.

What is Cloudflare?

Cloudflare is a content delivery network and cloud security platform that provides website optimization, security, and performance solutions. It bridges a website’s server with its visitors, increasing speed and dependability while protecting it from internet threats. Cloudflare assists small enterprises and non-technical individuals with limited access to security policies by offering website security and performance. As an Internet infrastructure provider, Cloudflare provides most of its key functions for free, with a straightforward installation and use process. It uses a Freemium model with some limits.

What Does Cloudflare do?

1. Protection Against Malicious Activity: Cloudflare protects against DDoS attacks, malicious bots, and other threats.
2. Improve Performance: Cloudflare provides content and services closer to the user location, which provides fast processing and high performance as well.
3. Data Security: Cloudflare protects data from being analyzed or used for targeting ads.
4. Provide DNS Services: Cloudflare responds to DNS queries for your domain and manages your DNS records.
5. Instant Integration with Other Platforms: Cloudflare integrates with platforms such as IBM Cloud, WordPress, Google Cloud, Magento, and Kubernetes.
6. Provide Web Application Firewall (WAF): Cloudflare’s WAF allows you to create rules to block suspicious requests and route good requests to the right destination.

Other services offered by Cloudflare include SASE and SSE services, app and infrastructure services. It also offers developer services, cloud cybersecurity, WAN services, and ICANN-accredited domain registration services.

How Does Cloudflare Work?

Cloudflare can work as a DNS provider and Reverse Proxy

DNS Provider:

Cloudflare supports different setups as a DNS provider. A full DNS setup is the most used, where Cloudflare becomes the primary authoritative DNS provider for the customer’s domain. They respond to DNS queries for the domain, and the customer manages their DNS records via the Cloudflare dashboard or API.

When Cloudflare receives a DNS query for your domain, their response is determined by the configuration set in your DNS table, including the value of the record, the record’s proxy eligibility, and its proxy status.

If the domain’s status is active and the queried DNS record is set to proxied, Cloudflare returns an anycast IP address rather than the value specified in your DNS table. This effectively reroutes HTTP/HTTPS requests to the Cloudflare network rather than directly to the desired origin server.

In contrast, if the queried DNS record is set to DNS only, indicating that the proxy is turned off, Cloudflare responds with the value indicated in your DNS table. This implies that HTTP/HTTPS requests go directly to the original server and are not handled or secured by Cloudflare.

Reverse Proxy:

DNS records in your table have a proxy status, indicating if HTTP/HTTPS traffic will route through Cloudflare. If active, requests for proxied DNS records route through Cloudflare, processing it according to your configuration.

How to Install Cloudflare Edge on SSL on Ubuntu

A powerful security solution, Cloudflare Edge SSL conceals data delivered by your visitors to Cloudflare’s global network. Better performance, more security, and simpler SSL maintenance are just a few advantages this service offers website owners. You may secure your Ubuntu-hosted website without installing complex certificates on your server by utilizing Cloudflare’s infrastructure.

Below are the steps on how to install Cloudflare edge SSL on Ubuntu:

1. Set up a Cloudflare’s Account: To use Cloudflare Edge SSL, sign up for a free Cloudflare account and change your site’s nameservers to point to Cloudflare, allowing them to handle DNS and provide security services.
2. Configure DNS Settings: To set up your DNS on Cloudflare, ensure that all A, CNAME, and MX records pointing to your Ubuntu server’s IP address are properly configured in the DNS section of the Cloudflare dashboard, ensuring data flows correctly through the network.
3. Setup Cloudflare SSL/TLS: To enable SSL/TLS security on your DNS, navigate to the SSL/TLS area in your Cloudflare dashboard. The “Flexible” SSL option is recommended for most users as it encrypts traffic between visitors and Cloudflare without altering your Ubuntu server setup.
4. Optimize SSL Settings: To maximize Cloudflare Edge SSL’s security benefits, enhance your SSL settings by enabling “Always Use HTTPS” and HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) in Cloudflare’s SSL/TLS dashboard. However, be cautious as this can permanently impact your name.
5. Verify SSL Installation: To ensure the proper functioning of Cloudflare Edge SSL, check for the lock icon in your computer’s address bar when using HTTPS, use free SSL checkers, and review your Cloudflare settings. Consult their help documentation for any issues.

Secure Your Website on Cloudflare

Cloudflare offers many web security services, including DDoS mitigation, a Web Application Firewall, API protection and more. Cloudflare provides L3-7 DDoS protection that helps organizations monitor, prevent, and mitigate attacks efficiently before affecting major infrastructure. To accomplish this defense, Cloudflare utilizes a global Anycast network that spans over 330 cities and 120 countries worldwide, capable of absorbing even the largest DDoS attacks.

Cloudflare network utilizes traffic routing and acceleration to reduce latency and congestion. Its next-generation WAF features automatic DDoS mitigation that prevents attacks within 3 seconds, advanced rate restriction, customized rulesets, and adaptable threat protection.

By serving as a middle layer between your API and the internet, Cloudflare’s API protection—mostly through its “API Gateway” feature—effectively protects your API from attacks and unauthorized access while permitting legitimate requests to reach your backend server. It does this by examining incoming requests for malicious patterns and implementing security measures like authentication, rate limiting, schema validation, and bot detection.

Cloudflare DNS Service

Cloudflare runs 1.1.1.1, a public DNS resolver that provides a quick and secure Internet browsing experience. The 1.1.1.1 does not sell user data to advertising, in contrast to the majority of DNS resolvers. Furthermore, the fastest DNS resolver currently in use has been measured to be 1.1.1.1.

Cloudflare’s DNS resolver differs from other ISP’s DNS resolvers by having improved security and performance. DNSSEC is supported by many DNS providers, provides strong security but does not protect users’ requests. On the other hand, user data is not mined as 1.1.1.1 stores logs for debugging and offers unique security features like query name minimization, enhancing privacy by containing only the necessary information for each query stage. 1.1.1.1, integrated into the Cloudflare network, offers speedy DNS queries worldwide. With access to millions of Internet properties, data centers on the platform provide lightning-fast responses. The independent DNS monitor DNSPerf ranks 1.1.1.1 as the fastest DNS service globally.

Build on top of 1.1.1.1, WARP is an optional application that establishes a secure connection between individual devices and internet services. By directing all device traffic via the Cloudflare network, which automatically encrypts and speeds it up, it protects all data. This provides some of the VPN service’s security features without sacrificing speed or raising privacy issues. Unfortunately, Cloudflare Warp does not allow users to manually change their server location. The application automatically routes your traffic through its closest server, and there are no options provided by Cloudflare to select a different region or server.

Features of Cloudflare’s Speed Test

Cloudflare’s Speed Test offers several key features that make it a standout tool for measuring Internet performance:

1. Global Server Selection: Tests are conducted from Cloudflare’s vast network of servers worldwide, ensuring accurate and low-latency results.
2. Fast DNS Resolution: Integrated with Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS, which is one of the fastest and most private DNS resolvers.
3. Privacy-Focused: No tracking of IP addresses or browsing history, ensuring privacy during testing.
4. Modern Protocols Support: Tests include support for HTTP/3 and QUIC, which improve speed and reduce latency.
5. Latency and Jitter Measurement: Provides insights into ping and jitter, important for real-time applications.
6. Edge-Caching: Reflects the speed of Cloudflare’s CDN, showing how cached content impacts performance.
7. User-Friendly: Simple, ad-free interface with real-time results for download, upload and ping speeds.
8. Mobile-Friendly: Works well on mobile devices, offering ease of use anywhere.

References:

1. What is Cloudflare? (https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/what-is-cloudflare/)
2. How Cloudflare works (https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/concepts/how-cloudflare-works/#:~:text=protected%20by%20Cloudflare.-,How%20Cloudflare%20works%20as%20a%20reverse%20proxy,to%20the%20DNS%20records%20tab)
3. What is 1.1.1.1? | Cloudflare (https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/dns/what-is-1.1.1.1)
4. React – Cloudflare Pages docs (https://developers.cloudflare.com/pages/framework-guides/deploy-a-react-site/)
5. How to secure a website on Cloudflare (https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/security/how-to-secure-a-website)
6. How to prevent DDoS attacks | Methods and tools | Cloudflare (https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/how-to-prevent-ddos-attacks/#:~:text=How%20Cloudflare%20helps%20prevent%20DDoS,rulesets%2C%20and%20flexible%20threat%20prevention)
7. Internet Speed Test – Measure Network Performance | Cloudflare (https://speed.cloudflare.com/)