Cloudflare

Cloud Flare! To the average porn consumer, the word Cloudflare is synonymous with being denied access from a website and being left blue-balled and annoyed. The general public sees protective services the same way they view antiviral solutions – as something that gets in the way of everyone’s fun. But, DDoS protection services are the webmasters' first real line of defense against the dark arts. And, by dark arts, I mean bad eggs that can and will try to take you down, every chance they get. Oh sure, you won’t be having a lot of enemies when you first start. But, take it from someone who hasn’t always been a successful actor in the world of porn reviews – attacks come when you least expect them. They also usually arrive right as your business is becoming solvent.

I don’t know how much forceful web penetration comes from disgruntled customers, competitors or trolls, but I know that it does happen and it can ruin your entire network. It’s not just about the damage that can be done during the actual attack. With proper backups and server control, you can bounce right back and get your site online in no time. You have to also consider how many loyal fans and users you lose during the downtime. People tend to get very butthurt about downtime. This is especially true if you’re running any kind of paid service on your site. If your members are paying for the privilege of using your services, they will not tolerate downtime.

The Basics of Traffic Protection

The word firewall gets thrown around a lot when you read about DDoS protection, but there’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes than simple traffic control. Cloudflare has grown to such an extent that they now have an international network of servers, bolstered by cooperation with a ton of other enterprises. They’re not selling you this cooperation directly, but you do benefit from their knowledge base. Their products are built around these networks to bring you the most intelligent protective solutions currently available. As the online black market abuse methods evolve, so too does Cloudflare’s defensive effort. They know the best ways to pipe your traffic while sparing you any unwanted downtime.

The best part of integrating Cloudflare into your web services is how painfully simple it is, from your perspective. They’ve damn near automated everything. As long as you have one or more websites that need protection, all you really have to do is integrate the appropriate APIs and pay for a subscription. After that, you rest easy knowing you and your users are all protected. It’s as simple as that. For the most part, your users don’t even know how protected they are. The same goes for your employees. None of them should notice any additional bloat while Cloudflare does their thing. And yes, some users might get stopped at the door, so to speak, if their connection shows shady behavior signs. But, this is pretty damn rare.

Extensible Integration

Cloudflare has outgrown basic website protection. For years now, they’ve been branching off into more holistic online security, with native integration for damn near any online service you can think of. Yes, they protect your website from any attacks; we know that much. But, did you also know that they protect your remote team members as well? That’s right. You don’t even need to pipe your access through a VPN. Cloudflare has invented automated systems that I honestly don’t understand very well; it’s all quite technical. But, suffice it to say, they inject themselves as a dual filtering layer of access. So, traffic flows exactly the same as before, but they analyze the data flow both as it leaves your worker’s computer and as it arrives at your server. That means that any outside interference is caught immediately.

They’ve also had their programmers hard at work writing up APIs for SaaS integration, in case your porn empire is offering some advanced interactions like online gambling through a downloadable app. Really, any kind of app would be secure with proper Cloudflare integration. And, their codebase has open support for any integration. And sure, it’s a bit more of a headache to set up than the basic web package, but if you’re running a profitable business, you can’t take any chances.

Optimizing for Speed

This is probably my favorite part of Cloudflare’s approach to network protection. The full DDoS protection works great if you’re ever under direct attack, but it’s technically useless the rest of the time. Well, Cloudflare took things several steps further with traffic optimization and piping. This is pivotal in case you’re not on some unlimited data plan. There is no such thing as an optimal bandwidth solution. Whatever package you’re on, you’re either underperforming or overpaying. It’s just a simple fact of life.

Traffic optimization helps you squeeze the maximum value out of the bandwidth you do have. Sure, there are free plugins to do this that are already available for your website, but Cloudflare runs far smarter optimization with analyses of the actual data type and destination. The system finds the best way to pipe traffic to all of your users with the least actual compromise. So, you’re not just paying for some single-use protection that only comes in handy while you’re under attack, far from it. Cloudflare optimizes your site across the board, in-between all the technical details that you should even bother to care about.

Multiple Tiers

Like all high-quality services, Cloudflare offers a free tier. They say it’s ideal for hobby projects, and that’s kind of true. It’s a great way to test out the DDoS attack mitigation. This tier also gives you access to the global content delivery network and some e-mail support, but it’s clear you’re riding the back of the bus. You really shouldn’t be running a profitable project with a free subscription.

Bumping up to the pro tier at just $20 a month, you get all the previously mentioned features plus lossless image optimization, automatic mobile optimization and cache analysis. I can’t comment much about the cache analysis, but the media optimizations are key for a porn-related site. Unless you’re quite literally running a forum, you’re going to see significant improvements in traffic. I guarantee it. Cloudflare isn’t sitting on ass this whole time – they’ve really upped the ante.

Next up, there’s the business tier and this is where the cost starts to get wild. At $200 a month, you get constant chat support. I’m talking every second of every day, across the entire year. On top of that, you get a 100% uptime guarantee with CNAME set-up compatibility and assistance with PCI compliance. That PCI compliance promise might fly by some people and it really shouldn’t. Shit’s really expensive and Cloudflare is bundling it inside an already attractive package. If you’ve ever done PCI compliance optimization, you’ll know what I’m on about. It’s a nightmare. To top it all off, you also get to use your own SSL certificate that Cloudflare works with. It’s the icing on the cake.

Finally, there’s the Enterprise tier where you straight up have to ask for a quote, because it’s a tier reserved for the largest operations. I wouldn’t recommend that you jump on this tier just yet. I don’t even know what to expect as far as the fees go. But, you do get nonstop phone support as well as engineer support and a role-based account access and a service level agreement for reimbursement in case of downtime.

The Best of the Best

Cloudflare has been around for a really long time and they’ve developed a ridiculously powerful system that integrates with SaaS solutions almost as easily as with websites. On top of that, they’ve got an extensive API written for compatibility for specific use-case scenarios. In other words, if you’re online, they can protect both you and the users accessing your content.

They even have a middle-man solution for protection of your employees, when they operate remotely. All of their systems function as seamless gateways that are injected in-between your site and the outside world, without requiring any kind of complicated setup. They basically did all the work for you, in advance. All that’s left is for you to choose the right payment plan for your budget and get to work.

You can’t have your livelihood unprotected. It’s best not to take any chances and get your hands on a Cloudflare subscription today.