Cloudflare

Free plugin. It copies a domain's DNS records from the panel to Cloudflare, lets each record go through the Cloudflare proxy (the orange cloud) or not, and purges the Cloudflare cache, all from the hosting panel. Your own DNS server stays the place where the records are edited; Cloudflare gets a copy when you ask.

What you need

• The domain added to a Cloudflare account, with the zone active there.
• A Cloudflare API token with the permissions Zone: Read, DNS: Edit and, for purging, Cache Purge. Create it in the Cloudflare dashboard under My Profile → API Tokens. Give it only the zones you need.

For the customer

Domains → Cloudflare in the hosting panel. The page has these parts, top to bottom.

1. API token. Paste the token and press Save token. The panel tests it at once and says how many zones it can see, or what Cloudflare answered. A badge shows whether Your own token or the Server token from the host is in use. Remove token deletes yours. The token is stored in the account's settings and shown only as a placeholder afterwards.
2. Cloudflare zones. The zones the token can see, with a refresh button.
3. Domains. One row for each domain of the account: choose the Cloudflare zone (a zone with the same name is picked for you), turn Mirror on or off and press Save. For a mirrored domain two more buttons appear: Push Records and Purge Cache, and the row shows when records were last sent and the result.
4. Proxy per record. For each mirrored domain, a table of its A, AAAA and CNAME records with a switch in the Proxied column. Press Save proxy settings. Only those record types can be proxied.

A banner lists new domains of the account that are not mirrored yet.

Push Records

Push Records sends every record of the domain's zone, in the panel, to the Cloudflare zone, with the proxy flag you chose. The answer reads like 14 record(s) sent to Cloudflare, 2 already there, 3 skipped (NS, SOA, SRV, CAA). Records that already exist in Cloudflare are left as they are; the plugin adds, it does not overwrite or delete. NS, SOA, SRV and CAA records are not sent. After a change to a record in the Zone Editor, press Push Records again.

Purge Cache

Purge Cache asks Cloudflare to drop everything it cached for the zone (purge everything). Use it after changing a site that the proxy serves.

For the host

DNS Functions → Cloudflare in the Host Manager.

• Global token - a token used by every account that did not save its own. Paste it, press Save, then Test the token; Remove deletes it. Use this when you manage the Cloudflare account for your customers.
• Proxy new records by default - A and CNAME records go to Cloudflare with the orange cloud on, unless the customer chose differently.
• An Accounts table shows, for each account you can see, what it mirrors.

The same two options are on the plugin's settings page, Plugins → Manage Plugins → Cloudflare → Settings. On a demo host you may type DEMO as the token to see the screens without a real account.

Good to know

• With the proxy on, Cloudflare answers for the site and hides its address. Mail records (MX, and A records used by mail.) must stay unproxied; leave the switch off for them.
• When a domain's DNS is served by Cloudflare, its registrar must point at Cloudflare's name servers; this server's own name servers are then no longer asked for that domain.
• Every token change, push and purge is written to the activity log.
• A feature list can hide the tool: the switch is named cloudflare under Packages → Feature Manager.
• If an account is terminated, nothing is deleted in Cloudflare.

See also DNS and SSL.