CloudFlare Confusion

[Down2TheC]

From what I've read about this, nothing should be changing without me actively going out and signing up for Cloudflare services. I have a PHPBB3.07-PL1 forum that has been untouched for a year and now cloudflare is showing up all over for me.

1. On my FF, I have "No-Script" plugin and without making any changes suddenly my site was asking to run scripts from cloudflare as well as my site.
2. Increasingly users are getting banned with the spammers because the IPs are coming from cloudflare.

I have my own VPS from Jaguar and other forums on my v-box are not being usurped (or running scripts) by cloudflare. So I'm thinking they've taken over the domain.

I don't want or need cloudflare and would love to get rid of it. More troubles than any possible benefit. But I don't quite have a grip on why or how it's taking over.

Any words of wisdom?

[gohighvoltage]

Are you saying Cloudfare took over your domain? The only way that cloudfare can be installed, is if you changed your dns nameservers to point to cloudfare, etc. Cloudfare cannot install itself.

Also, Cloudfare has NO scripts, it only works when you point your DNS nameservers for your domain to them.

Do you gave any google ads or other automated ads on your website?

Can you explain better what the issue is?

[gohighvoltage]

Actually I am really interested in cloudfare now that you brought it up.

It seems like a great idea.

Anyone else use cloudfare and like it? Better?

[Down2TheC]

Resolved. I realized it probably had to be requested by shooting the DNS over there. Found out that the site's founder (inactive on the site but still registers the domain) pointed us over there.

For the record, CloudFlare can't really speed up a dynamic site. For a PHPBB3 forum, the only thing that can be cached is the script files and images that are hosted on the domain. For that tiny boost you get extra routing sending every POST and GET to them first only to shoot it back to your domain. The more static content you have, the better it will do for you.

[gohighvoltage]

Wouldn't Cloudflare be much better for a forum, in a sense it blocks known spammers, and you can also block countries, etc.

[JPC-Sabrina]

Your information and added details about the abilities of Cloudflare may be handy to some of our other users. Issues can sometimes be easily resolved when venues emerge between users. No tech, no ticket and not only is the problem fixed but it also becomes a learning point for more than a few. Now that is a gem of a thread.

[gohighvoltage]

ok, I did some digging around about cloudflare.

The concept is good. A Content Delivery system that is easily implemented by a DNS server change. So there is no hardware to install, etc.

Cloudflare has a free version which you can use, and then they offer a paid PRO version which offers more features.

How it works is, you sign up, add your domain to their system. They give you specific DNS nameservers to use. Then you change your domain service to point to their DNS nameservers.

This causes all your web traffic to go through their servers / filters / security. (like a proxy)

Easy and can be done in literally 10 minutes or less.

Benefits:

They use popular spam reporting databases to block out IP addresses known for spam.

They Block known spam bots.

You can block entire countries with ease if you want.

Their system caches picture files, certain java scripts, etc, so essentially your site can load faster at times.


Drawback:

You are giving a 3rd party access to your web traffic. They can use this information to sell to other people. They have the ability to see all the visitors/customers of your site, demographics, where your referrals are coming from, etc.

You are relying on a middleman for performance and reliability to your site. So if their system goes down, or is really slow due to hardware, etc, You suffer.

When a suspicious IP tries to get to your site, the person lands on a page with a message that tells them their computer might be infected with spyware or malware, and they need to enter a caption code to enter your site. Now, Keep in mind, they (cloudflare) use this landing page for ADVERTISEMENTS of software, vendors, google ads, that THEY GET PAID FOR! Also, you might want to ask yourself, if your customer buys a program to remove spyware from one of their ads, and it screws up their computer, I am sure the customer is going to blame you, as it was shown to them when entering your site. Now this may not happen often (getting the landing page) but it can happen with false positives, etc.

Speed: I tried it for the last couple days. I have tried several different bench mark tools. I have not seen any speed improvement at all.


I love the security aspect and the fact it blocks spammers, and spam bots, which is great to save your resources and bandwidth for actual customers.

BUT-

I am not sold on the idea of my company privacy, traffic, and ads being sold when people could be attempting to visit my site.


So for now I am going to uninstall.

[gohighvoltage]

Actually I decided to leave it installed for a little while to give it more testing. Will keep everyone posted.

[Down2TheC]

Well now that I'm off CloudFlare I'll get a comparison. The forum is protected against bots, but I've had a rash of human spammers come to the site to post. We'll see if the number goes down without CloudFlare. And it wasn't widespread, but there were several issues with people having scripts and cookies fail due to the reroute. But all that may be a case of "the grass is always greener".

[gohighvoltage]

Ok, Interesting data. See attached picture. Been on cloudflare for a couple days. It is amazing how much traffic it stops due to threats.
I am still not sold on the privacy ordeal, or control over what they advertise, etc, but it sure does block a lot of crap traffic.

See attached.cloudflare.jpg

[gohighvoltage]

I am really impressed with the concept of Cloudflare. It is incredible how many threats it blocks from my forum. Although I am still not happy with giving up all your privacy to a 3rd party that can use demographic, bounce, referal websites, all for their own marketing purposes, this has some great thought behind it.


Maybe Jag could offer a UPGRADED DNS service that can do the same thing? (Block threats using info from spam IP address databases, etc)

[JPC-Masood]

Maybe Jag could offer a UPGRADED DNS service that can do the same thing? (Block threats using info from spam IP address databases, etc)

This is an interesting idea to work on. Thanks for sharing.

[gohighvoltage]

This is an interesting idea to work on. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Masood.


I tell ya what, if you can create such a service, and allow your customers to turn it on or off, it would be a great selling benefit for you.

Maybe have it turned on automatically for shared hosting to cut down on spam bandwidth, and in turn, make everyone happier with faster service.

I am abosolutely amazed how much bandwidth and spam/fradulent traffic it has cut down on my site/forum already.


From what I read online, Hostgator was recommending its clients to sign up for cloudflare.


If you added this benefit, when suspicious IP's are sensed, you could have it land on YOUR landing page, asking for a captcha word to continue on to the site. (But on the landing page, have Jag advertisements, etc)

WIN / WIN.

[JPC-Sabrina]

Anything that cuts down on Spam and Fraudulent traffic is something everyone should take a look into using. Cloudflare is a program that deserves a little additional attention. The dashboard feature is visually enticing as well. Thanks for filtering out the best for us.

[gohighvoltage]

In an effort, to save support some unnecessary tickets, If you DO install Cloudfare, You will get a message like this from CPANEL:

IMPORTANT: Do not ignore this email.

Your hostname (yoursite.com) could not be resolved to an
IP address. This means that /etc/hosts is not set up correctly,
and/or there is no dns entry for vps.yoursite.com. Please be
sure that the contents of /etc/hosts are configured correctly, and
also that there is a correct 'A' entry for the domain in the zone
file.

Some or all of these problems can be caused by /etc/resolv.conf
being setup incorrectly. Please check that file if you believe
everything else is correct.

You may be able to automatically correct this problem by using the
'Add an A entry for your hostname' option under 'Dns Functions' in
your Web Host Manager.

DO NOT BE ALARMED. Ignore this message. Cpanel automatically checks your DNS daily for you. When you change your domain to Cloudflare DNS, Cpanel sees this as a problem.

It is not a problem and you can ignore this message, IF you are on Cloudflare or any other Content Delivey system that uses DNS.