What is CloudFlare?

CloudFlare website optimization technology uses a number of techniques to improve your website performance. By routing your traffic through its global network, CloudFlare will inspect and filter out malicious requests, unwanted traffic, and other resource-draining requests. CloudFlare also provides caching for static content through their cloud-based content delivery network – putting your web information closer to your website visitors.

CloudFlare also represents a community of web developers and website owners looking for the speed and security previously only accessible to large websites with dedicated staff. As the CloudFlare community grows, their services only improve.

Activating CloudFlare will boost your website speed, security, efficiency, and overall performance.

How does CloudFlare’s technology work?

CloudFlare works as a reverse proxy. This means that once your website is part of the CloudFlare community, your web traffic is routed through CloudFlare’s global network.

CloudFlare’s network automatically optimizes the delivery of your web pages by caching static content like CSS, JavaScript, and images, storing them at data centers around the world. CloudFlare will also compress certain webfiles to ensure faster, more efficient performance.

CloudFlare’s network also blocks threats and limits abusive bots before they hit your server, which means you will be wasting less bandwidth and server resources.

What’s the catch? Is CloudFlare really free?

Yes! HostPapa is a CloudFlare partner and the basic CloudFlare service is offered free for our shared hosting plan customers. The core CloudFlare services are perfect for most websites; CloudFlare is quick and easy to set up and will noticeably boost website performance, security, and more.

Will CloudFlare make my website faster?

CloudFlare has great potential to speed up your website, for a few reasons. First, CloudFlare caches static content from your site and distributes it across their cloud-based content delivery network. CloudFlare has access to a number of data centers around the world, meaning content will be delivered to your visitors from the closest possible location. CloudFlare will also compress content for more efficient delivery.

As well, CloudFlare inspects all traffic visiting your site and filters out malicious and unwanted traffic, reducing the number of hits to your site and reducing your overall resource demand.

What are some benefits of using CloudFlare?

Websites load, on average, twice as fast, use 60% less bandwidth, and service 65% fewer requests when using CloudFlare. Increased speed can improve your search engine rankings and will encourage visitors to spend more time on your site.

CloudFlare protects your website with security features such as hotlinking protection, the ability to block traffic by IP or country, email harvesting protection, and a number of other tools. Additionally, you will also be provided detailed statistics about your traffic, updated every 24 hours.

Is CloudFlare easy to activate?

Yes! To activate CloudFlare for your domains, simply log in to your HostPapa cPanel and click on the CloudFlare icon. You'll be able to create an account, learn about the service, make sure your site is CloudFlare enabled, and modify your security settings, all from the same place.

Read more about enabling CloudFlare on your HostPapa account

How can I read more about CloudFlare and get help with their services?

There are a number of useful articles about CloudFlare in the HostPapa knowledgebase.

If you require further assistance, please open a support ticket at http://www.hostpapa.com/submit-ticket/.

Where are CloudFlare’s data centers located?

Currently, CloudFlare has 12 data centers worldwide with points of presence in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Los Angeles, San Jose, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Ashburn, Amsterdam, Paris, Singapore, and Frankfurt. These strategic locations are some of the largest hubs for Internet traffic in the world. CloudFlare has plans to open additional facilities in London and Miami in the coming months.

Does CloudFlare support SSL? How can I use it on my site?

CloudFlare fully supports the use of SSL with your site. If the SSL is installed on a subdomain, you can continue using it on a free account and just make note that it's an SSL subdomain within your CloudFlare account. If the SSL is installed into your primary domain (not a subdomain), then you'd need to upgrade to a CloudFlare Pro account. The cost is $20 per month for the first domain, and $5 per month for each additional domain. You can use both free and Pro services under the same account. More information about CloudFlare and SSL can be found here.

What types of websites can use CloudFlare?

CloudFlare works for both static and dynamic websites. However, CloudFlare is not suitable for websites that stream video or audio directly from their origin server. Using YouTube or Vimeo for the videos embedded on your website is compatible with CloudFlare.

Does CloudFlare provide any other services?

In addition to web performance services, CloudFlare also provides a service called CloudFlare apps. This program allows for one-click installations of some of the most popular web apps available today, including products by Google, Globalsign, and Pingdom.

WordPress Plug-in: The CloudFlare WP plug-in will display your visitor’s real IP, and not the IP of the CloudFlare proxy. This plug-in will also run optimizations on your database (it is not a replacement for caching plug-ins), and will let you report spam users to CloudFlare through your WordPress blog.

Joomla Extension: This extension for Joomla will restore your visitor’s original IP address, and not report the IP as one of CloudFlare’s proxies.

Drupal Extension: This Drupal extension for CloudFlare will restore your visitor’s original IP and not report the IP as one of CloudFlare’s.

Rocket Loader: Rocket Loader automatically optimizes your pages to minimize your network connections and prevent third party services from slowing down your site.

CSS & JavaScript Bundling: In addition to CloudFlare’s AutoMinify feature, this service will bundle your JS & CSS requests into a single request, reducing the amount of active network connections.

Read more about CloudFlare features