discussion Guide CloudFlare 2025 Cloudflare Setup Guide – Speed Up and Protect Your Website

[CL4Y]

🔍 Step-by-Step Cloudflare Setup Guide​

Cloudflare is a globally popular Content Delivery Network (CDN) and DNS service used to increase website speed, protect against DDoS attacks, and enhance security measures. Even the free plan provides many advantages.

---

📝 Step 1: Create a Cloudflare Account​

1. Go to https://dash.cloudflare.com/.
2. Click the Sign Up button.
3. Enter a valid email address and a strong password to register.
4. After creating your account, log in.

---

🌐 Step 2: Add Your Website to Cloudflare​

1. After logging in, click the Add a domain button.
2. In the Enter an existing domain field, enter your domain name (e.g., jetto.net).

If your domain already points to a server and uses a custom NS record, select Quick scan for DNS records so Cloudflare can automatically detect them.
If your domain does not have an NS record, choose Manually enter DNS records and manually enter the DNS details provided by your hosting provider.

If you want to prevent AI bots from crawling your website, you can enable Block AI training bots → Block on all pages during setup.

---

💰 Step 3: Choose a Cloudflare Plan​

Cloudflare offers several plans:

• Free: Sufficient for small to medium websites.
• Pro, Business, and Enterprise: Offer advanced performance, protection, and support.

For beginners, the Free Plan is more than enough. Select it and continue.

---

🧭 Step 4: Configure Cloudflare DNS Records​

If you selected Manually enter DNS records in Step 2, you’ll need to add your DNS records manually.
If you chose Quick scan for DNS records, Cloudflare will import them automatically.
We prefer manual entry to avoid unnecessary records. Make sure the DNS entries exactly match the ones from your hosting provider.

After adding all DNS records, click Continue to activation.

---

🔁 Step 5: Update Cloudflare Nameservers (NS)​

Cloudflare will provide new nameservers (NS). Update them by following these steps:

1. Log in to your domain registrar (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap, HayalHost, etc.).
2. Replace your current NS records with the two Cloudflare nameservers.
3. Propagation can take between 5 minutes and 24 hours.

---

🔒 Step 6: Configure Cloudflare SSL Settings​

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to the SSL/TLS section.
2. Select either “Full” or “Full (strict)”.
   • If your server already has a valid SSL certificate, Full (strict) is recommended.
3. Enable Always use HTTPS and Automatic HTTPS Rewrites.
4. Set the TLS version to TLS 1.3.

---

⚙️ Step 7: Adjust Cloudflare Security and Performance Settings​

• From the Speed tab, enable Auto Minify (HTML, CSS, JS). Avoid enabling Rocket Loader™, as it can cause issues on some websites.

• From the Caching tab, configure advanced cache settings.

• From the Security tab, configure IP filtering and DDoS protection.

⚠️ You can manually define your own rules under Security > WAF > Custom rules.

 

[CL4Y]

With Cloudflare setup, your website will now run faster, more securely, and more reliably. You can achieve significant gains, especially with the CDN, HTTPS, DDoS protection, and performance improvements offered by the free plan.