CF Project Assignment

Hi Recruitment Team,

Thanks for the opportunity to progress and to find out more about the opportunity at Cloudflare.

I was tasked with obtaining access to a website, and placing this website behind Cloudflare. My first challenge came in the form of not having access to ‘borrow’ a website. Many friends whom own business’ have outsourced all website management to third parties, so instead I went about creating a simple website in order to complete the assessment (and learn more about Cloudflare as part of this process)

I originally scanned the internet for ‘free websites’ and within a few minutes I had spun up a simple static website (step one complete! Or so I thought). As I attempted to pair Cloudflare with my simple website I realised that I only had access to the sub-domain, and this didn’t allow me to perform name server changes and I was blocked from placing my website behind Cloudflare.

After purchasing a domain through wix.com and setting up a website, I tried to put this behind Cloudflare only to realise Wix don't offer the capability to change name servers regardless if you are on a free or paid for plan. I then realised through more research that some sites restrict name server changes if you host a website and purchase a domain name through them. Off to Godaddy I went and purchased a new domain, using this domain I set up my website on wix.com.

After the complexity of having a suitable domain hosted on a suitable platform, Cloudflare took little to no effort at all. It was easy to find the relevant free subscription and the detailed instructions were clear and concise. I set up my account, and amended to the named servers that Cloudflare provided. I quickly received confirmation on the Cloudflare portal that my site was protected.

I faced one final hurdle when I realised I couldn’t access my website. I googled the error message provided (stating too many redirects) and quickly found the information I needed – and I amended my SSL configuration from ‘flexible’ to ‘strict’. My website was now live, accessible and protected by Cloudflare.

The entire exercise took me approximately 2/3 hours – most of which I spent creating an accessible website that was compatible with Cloudflare. I found the Cloudflare instructions easy to navigate and simple to apply.

My site can be accessed here - cfproject.co.uk