DNS and CDN fundamentals
The original Cloudflare products — DNS, the CDN, caching, TLS modes — set up correctly the first time.
This module is being expanded.
Coming in the next revision:
- DNS basics on Cloudflare — nameserver delegation, the “orange cloud” proxy mode, what happens when proxying is on vs off.
- 1.1.1.1 — Cloudflare’s public resolver, what it is, and why DNSSEC matters.
- TLS modes — Off / Flexible / Full / Full (Strict) / Strict (Origin Pull). What each actually means at the byte level. Almost everyone should be on Full (Strict).
- Caching rules — page rules vs the newer cache rules engine. Cache-Control respect, custom cache keys, edge cache TTLs.
- Argo Smart Routing — what the optimization does and when it pays off.
- Load Balancing — origin health checks, weighted routing, geo-steering.
- Stream and Images — Cloudflare’s video and image-resizing products for media-heavy sites.