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The value of CloudFlare comes from its network, not the software they run. You can hack together a caching reverse proxy (intentionally oversimplified) pretty e

The value of CloudFlare comes from its network, not the software they run. You can hack together a caching reverse proxy (intentionally oversimplified) pretty easily, but it won't be "CloudFlare".

dx034 4y ago
In fact you can just use nginx. Cloudflare itself used it for a long time (although heavily modified) and nginx will give you most of the features Cloudflare had until 1-2 years ago. You'd still need the network though.
- slake 4y ago
  Can I setup DoS protection, basic WAF on the free Nginx? If so, any resources to do the same would be appreciated.
  - gtirloni 4y ago
    Certainly, https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-waf/ https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-waf/
swyx 4y ago
> The value of CloudFlare comes from its network, not the software they run. this is, as the kids say, a *MOAT*. you could leak the entire source of cloudflare and cloudflare's value would be unaffected.
- mrtweetyhack 4y ago
  [dead]
rozenmd 4y ago
Even the Worker runtime is open-source now: https://github.com/cloudflare/workerd https://github.com/cloudflare/workerd
codegeek 4y ago
Ok then let's ask another question. Is there a real competitor to Cloudflare ?
- taveras 4y ago
  Fastly is great.
- yencabulator 4y ago
  Just about any cloud counts. Debating exactly how many data centers one needs to be "edge" instead of "cloud" is pretty silly. Ask what latency you need between your software and the customer, and then ask what providers can supply that. (Of course, AWS egress transfer rates may be too costly, but that's not about "edge". https://blog.cloudflare.com/aws-egregious-egress/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/aws-egregious-egress/)
- stephenr 4y ago
  It will depend on your use case. For an average site, that just wants basic CDN facilities (cache assets; maybe do some rule processing to control cache of "dynamic" pages etc) there are dozens. The issue comes in a few of the niche uses. A client of mine has been using CF for the public site for several years, but until recently used S3 + Cloudfront for content that users download (essentially purchased digital files). That content is now also served via Cloudflare, using tokens (similar to pre-signed URLs for Cloudfront, so the cache can validate that a user should have access to a file). CF don't cache all the downloadable content (anything over 512MB is excluded from caching unless you pay for Enterpri$e level plan) but they also don't have per-{m,g,t}byte transfer pricing either. This is obviously not a problem for a lot of use-cases, but for anyone offering downloadable content, or large volumes of network traffic, it's going to be hard to find a CDN that can compete on price with Cloudflare.
oliwarner 4y ago
I use their pages services to handle CI/CD but also to run edge functions (lightweight server side stuff near to the user) with their keystore product. They're definitely more than a CDN these days.

The value of CloudFlare comes from its network, not the software they run. You can hack together a caching reverse proxy (intentionally oversimplified) pretty easily, but it won't be "CloudFlare".

dx034 4y ago

In fact you can just use nginx. Cloudflare itself used it for a long time (although heavily modified) and nginx will give you most of the features Cloudflare had until 1-2 years ago. You'd still need the network though.

slake 4y ago
Can I setup DoS protection, basic WAF on the free Nginx? If so, any resources to do the same would be appreciated.
- gtirloni 4y ago
  Certainly, https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-waf/ https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-waf/

swyx 4y ago

> The value of CloudFlare comes from its network, not the software they run. this is, as the kids say, a *MOAT*. you could leak the entire source of cloudflare and cloudflare's value would be unaffected.

mrtweetyhack 4y ago
[dead]

rozenmd 4y ago

Even the Worker runtime is open-source now: https://github.com/cloudflare/workerd https://github.com/cloudflare/workerd

codegeek 4y ago

Ok then let's ask another question. Is there a real competitor to Cloudflare ?

taveras 4y ago
Fastly is great.
yencabulator 4y ago
Just about any cloud counts. Debating exactly how many data centers one needs to be "edge" instead of "cloud" is pretty silly. Ask what latency you need between your software and the customer, and then ask what providers can supply that. (Of course, AWS egress transfer rates may be too costly, but that's not about "edge". https://blog.cloudflare.com/aws-egregious-egress/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/aws-egregious-egress/)
stephenr 4y ago
It will depend on your use case. For an average site, that just wants basic CDN facilities (cache assets; maybe do some rule processing to control cache of "dynamic" pages etc) there are dozens. The issue comes in a few of the niche uses. A client of mine has been using CF for the public site for several years, but until recently used S3 + Cloudfront for content that users download (essentially purchased digital files). That content is now also served via Cloudflare, using tokens (similar to pre-signed URLs for Cloudfront, so the cache can validate that a user should have access to a file). CF don't cache all the downloadable content (anything over 512MB is excluded from caching unless you pay for Enterpri$e level plan) but they also don't have per-{m,g,t}byte transfer pricing either. This is obviously not a problem for a lot of use-cases, but for anyone offering downloadable content, or large volumes of network traffic, it's going to be hard to find a CDN that can compete on price with Cloudflare.

oliwarner 4y ago

I use their pages services to handle CI/CD but also to run edge functions (lightweight server side stuff near to the user) with their keystore product. They're definitely more than a CDN these days.