Use Cloudflare alongside Heliohost.org?

[saile]

Hello, this is my first time posting so I'm not sure if its the right place, I apologize if its not. 

However I have several questions.

 

I would like to use Cloudflare, but in order to do so, it says I need to change the namesevers on namecheap, (where I purchased my domain name),

from ns1.heliohost.org and ns2.heliohost.org,

to adelaide.ns.cloudflare.com and kirk.ns.cloudflare.com

 

What would happen if I did this? Would I still be able to log into HelioHost like normal?

Would I still be able to get to my email which I access through HelioHost and Cpanel? 

Would Cloudflare start hosting my site instead?

I'm only interested in using Cloudflare because it allows me to get an SSL padlock on my website (which is under construction) 

in a fairly straightforward manner. 

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Sn1F3rt]

Assuming you're on Johnny since you're asking this question, I'll answer your questions about this. Cloudflare is nothing but a means of proxying the traffic to your website through a separate IP and hence troublemakers aren't able to see your public IP, in this case Johnny's IP, where your site is hosted.

 

If you're on Tommy and Ricky, Cloudflare wouldn't be the ideal choice as it'll interfere with AutoSSL and break the website.

 

However, you can safely change your nameservers to that of Cloudflare. Do remember to add the domain on Johnny first otherwise you'll have to add the domain here before adding on Cloudflare, otherwise you won't be able to add it afterwards.

 

Coming to the other questions, you'll be able to login to your account as usual. The DNS records are automatically synced with Cloudflare so you'd be able to remain using the email service. As I said earlier, Cloudflare only proxies the traffic to your website, so it'll continue to be hosted on HelioHost itself, and not on Cloudflare.

 

Do remember one thing, that you'll not be able to use the 'DNS Zone Editor' from your cPanel any longer. If you'd like to add or remove or update any DNS records, you'll have to do it through the Cloudflare dashboard.

 

Just as a side note, since you only want the SSL, you could go for a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate which can be obtained and installed free of cost on your website and it'll show the green padlock, using this tutorial - https://wiki.helionet.org/Installing_an_SSL_Certificate_on_Tommy_with_ZeroSSL . However that only applies to Johnny as Tommy and Ricky have cPanel AutoSSL. Hope that helps!

 

Regards,

[wolstech]

Cloudflare is well known for breaking a lot of things on our service. Please keep in mind the following:

 

• DNS Zone Editor - Doesn't work with CF
• Domains pointed to CF cannot be added to your account - You must set CF up after adding the domain.
• Subdomains - Requires manual DNS entries be made on CF's website for each domain
• cPanel on port 80 - Doesn't work with CF
• Webdisk - Doesn't work with CF
• Mail client configuration - the hostname shown in cPanel will be incorrect
• FTP client configuration - the hostname shown in cPanel will be incorrect
• We do not provide any technical support for CF users. You will be asked to remove CF before we assist if you ask for help. (We can't see what DNS settings users are using if they use CF, and in most cases, the act of removing CF itself ends up fixing the problem...).

 

That said, it can and has been used successfully. In fact, we offer a button in cPanel to set it up. Most issues with DNS that we've seen with CF are fixed by deleting the site from CF, pointing your domain back to us, and letting CF copy the zone records again. Mail and FTP will work if you use the server hostname (e.g. tommy.heliohost.org) instead of your own domain in those clients, and most users don't use Webdisk or cPanel on port 80.

[saile]

Thank you all for your help.


EDIT:
Per sohamb03's suggestions, I followed the instructions linked to the Wiki and now have the certificate installed. It was easy and i didn't have to use Cloud-Flare or mess with the nameservers. Thank you for letting me know about it.

 

I don't know how to close it and mark it solved.

Edited March 21, 2020 by saile