Using Cloudflare

We highly recommend using Cloudflare (free plan is enough).
Cloudflare provides multiple benefits:

• 🔒 Security: mitigation of DDoS attacks, protection from bots and hackers.
• ⚡ Performance: caching static assets, reducing load on your origin server.
• 🛡️ Privacy: encrypts traffic and keeps visitor data secure.

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Step-by-step setup

Recommended setup

Make sure to enable proxy mode (orange cloud in Cloudflare dashboard) for all records.

1. Create A record

Point your domain’s A record in Cloudflare to:

    {YOUR_SERVER_IP}

Proxy must be enabled (orange cloud).

2. Enable SSL

Go to SSL/TLS → Overview and choose:

- `Full` or `Flexible`  
- ❌ *Not* `Full Strict`

3. Redirect HTTP → HTTPS

Enable "Always use HTTPS" in Cloudflare SSL/TLS → Edge Certificates.
This forces all requests to be redirected to HTTPS.

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Final notes

• ✅ Make sure your origin server listens on port 443.
• 🔄 Changes in DNS may take up to 24 hours to propagate.
• 🧪 After setup, test via https://securityheaders.com/ or curl -I https://yourdomain.com.

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Why Cloudflare?

Using Cloudflare ensures faster response times, better security against common attacks, and a professional-grade setup without extra cost.