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Set Up Cloudflare DNS – CDN, Nameservers & Improve Performance

Quick answer: Cloudflare offers free CDN, DDoS protection and fast DNS – often under 10 ms response time. Set up correctly you significantly improve load times, Core Web Vitals and Google rankings.

When is Cloudflare worth it?

Set up Cloudflare – step by step

  1. Create account at cloudflare.com (Free plan is enough)
  2. Add domain → Cloudflare scans existing DNS records
  3. Verify records! Add missing MX, TXT, A records manually
  4. Note nameservers → enter at registrar → Nameserver guide
  5. Set SSL mode: Full or Full (strict)
  6. Enable performance features

Proxy mode: Orange vs grey cloud

Cloudflare DNS: orange proxied vs grey DNS-only cloud
Website records (A/CNAME) → orange (proxied). Mail records (MX/TXT) → grey (DNS only).
ModeWhat happens?When to use?
Proxied (orange)Traffic via Cloudflare CDN, IP hiddenWebsite A/CNAME records
DNS only (grey)DNS only, no CDNMX, SPF, DKIM, mail, FTP, game servers

Common Cloudflare errors

ErrorCauseFix
521Origin unreachableServer online? Firewall port 443 open?
522Connection timeoutWhitelist Cloudflare IPs in firewall
525SSL handshake failedSet SSL mode to Full, check certificate

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