May SoFri - Jeremy Farrance Presents: Why you should (and how to) put Cloudflare Free in front of your DNN site

In this Southern Fried DNN User Group Meeting:

Speaker: Jeremy Farrance
Topic: Why you should (and how to) put Cloudflare Free in front of your DNN site

Jeremy Farrance Presents: Why you should (and how to) put Cloudflare Free in front of your DNN site! This SoFri meeting session includes a live set up on an existing website as well as: setting up the 15-year origin server SSL certificate, a walk through on features you should turn on after you get it working, and a walk/talk through Clearing the Cache as well as when to use Pause vs. Dev mode.

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Community Topics and Updates

• 🚐 Van Life update: David joins from his camper van near Yosemite (~3,000 ft), now 5,500+ miles into the journey, leveling and parking while friends arrive.
• 🌄 Community vibes: scenic travel chat, surprise meetups suggested, nostalgic tunes and jokes.
• 🌐 DNN Connect news: Girona, Spain, different pace than U.S. Summit; look for recaps from community voices like “DNN Diva” (Alessandra Daniels).
• 🧩 DNN community updates: Will Strohl publishes OpenContent templates for social metadata and relaunches Glanton auth modules under Appendo; new DNN Feedback Module v6.8.0 helps upgrades from older versions.
• 🦠 Security story: TooSexyBlog shares a ransomware post-mortem that started from an outdated SharePoint install, with transparent lessons learned.
• ⚙️ DNN 10.0.1 release: shipped this week; please test and report issues to keep momentum strong.

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Why you should (and how to) put Cloudflare Free in front of your DNN site

Jeremy leads a live Cloudflare setup for a DNN site, covering origin SSL, key security and performance features to enable, and practical workflows for cache clearing and when to use Pause vs. Dev mode.

Recommendations and Presentation Notes:

• ☁️ Core benefits: edge caching for speed, stronger security, bot and threat protection.
• 🔐 Origin Server SSL: create and install a 15-year cert to ensure full encryption (browser → Cloudflare → origin). Note: the stream showed an IIS binding hiccup; verify the cert is applied and bound correctly.
• 🛡️ Harden the origin: restrict IIS to Cloudflare IP ranges to prevent direct hits even if the server IP is known.
• ⚙️ Cloudflare settings to review: Bot Fight Mode and managed challenges, DNS entries, SSL/TLS mode, caching rules, and Development Mode for debugging.
• 🧰 Optional pro tools: image optimization (WebP, Mirage, Polish) and managed WAF rules, including DNN-aware protections.
• 🚀 Advanced & automation: Pro plan enables advanced WAF; DNS updates are nearly instant; Ryan demonstrates Cloudflare API/CLI and Terraform patterns for replicating site configs; use whitelisted IP lists for dev access.
• 🔎 Upgrade notes & caveats: Let’s Encrypt renewals can collide with Cloudflare; pause proxy or avoid HTTP/2 during renewal windows if needed.
• 🧾 SSL & billing philosophy: Cloudflare origin certs help agencies fold SSL into maintenance rather than separate billing.
• 🤝 Takeaway: setup has many steps, but once complete, Cloudflare provides durable performance, protection, and reliability.
• 🗓️ Next meetup: Thursday, June 19 — topic suggestions welcome.

Watch the Southern Fried DNN User Group Meeting:

About the SouthernFried DNN User Group

Even though our DNN user group is nestled in the Carolinas, we are really YOUR DNN User Group regardless of your Southern heritage or lack thereof. Everyone is invited to attend in person or to join us online! We always try to broadcast the meeting so everyone can participate. Register now for the online meeting details for those of you wanting to join online

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