Hosting companies and Cloudflare

[atmftw]

I have a SaaS (a page builder) with integrated hosting via a WHM/CPANEL server.

First of all, I must say I’m totally lost.
My expected output is to secure my clients’ websites using Cloudflare services.
But I have no clue which Cloudflare service can help me with that.

Here are some of the problems I’d like to solve:
1) If one performs a reverse IP lookup on my IP or custom nameservers (to which my clients point their domain), all my clients domains are exposed.
My thoughts: If I was able to give them Cloudflare nameservers instead of my own, their domains would get mixed with thousands and thousands of other domains, and that would be OK for me. Is there a way? Would that be using custom nameservers with a business/enterprise account?

2) I’m also concerned about my server being attacked, like DDoS or something else.
My thoughts: só is there a way to protect my dedicated server with Cloudflare? Is it possible not to reveal my server’s IP, considering that I offer hosting services, or that must be public?

3) I’m also thinking of ways to stop using whm/cpanel to manage my clients’ websites.
My thoughts: From what I’ve understood, Cloudflare for SaaS would be a solution for that. I’d create subdomains like myclientsname(dot)mysaasdomain(dot)com, and create a custom hostname for them, so they’d use whateverdomain(dot)com with a cname record to myclientsname(dot)mysaasdomain(dot)com

Regarding item 3, if that is the case, how would I do that? I have no idea how that would work, as I don’t know how I’d do it without cpanel. (Of course I don’t expect a step by step tutorial).
How would I create this subdomains without cpanel, for example?

Also lastly also regarding item 3, I understood that I’d have to pay $2 for each custom hostname, if that’s correct, it would not be viable for me since I now pay less than a dollar for each cpanel account (that has 1 primary domain and unlimited additional domains).

I would very much appreciate if someone can help me with that, for free or for a fee

[atmftw]

I have a SaaS (a page builder) with integrated hosting via a WHM/CPANEL server.

First of all, I must say I’m totally lost.
My expected output is to secure my clients’ websites using Cloudflare services.
But I have no clue which Cloudflare service can help me with that.

Here are some of the problems I’d like to solve:
1) If one performs a reverse IP lookup on my IP or custom nameservers (to which my clients point their domain), all my clients domains are exposed.
My thoughts: If I was able to give them Cloudflare nameservers instead of my own, their domains would get mixed with thousands and thousands of other domains, and that would be OK for me. Is there a way? Would that be using custom nameservers with a business/enterprise account?

2) I’m also concerned about my server being attacked, like DDoS or something else.
My thoughts: só is there a way to protect my dedicated server with Cloudflare? Is it possible not to reveal my server’s IP, considering that I offer hosting services, or that must be public?

3) I’m also thinking of ways to stop using whm/cpanel to manage my clients’ websites.
My thoughts: From what I’ve understood, Cloudflare for SaaS would be a solution for that. I’d create subdomains like myclientsname(o)mysaasdomain(o)com, and create a custom hostname for them, so they’d use whateverdomain(o)com with a cname record to myclientsname(o)mysaasdomain(o)com

Regarding item 3, if that is the case, how would I do that? I have no idea how that would work, as I don’t know how I’d do it without cpanel. (Of course I don’t expect a step by step tutorial).
How would I create this subdomains without cpanel, for example?

Also lastly also regarding item 3, I understood that I’d have to pay $2 for each custom hostname, if that’s correct, it would not be viable for me since I now pay less than a dollar for each cpanel account (that has 1 primary domain and unlimited additional domains).

I would very much appreciate if someone can help me with that, for free or for a fee

[domjh]

@atmftw

My expected output is to secure my clients’ websites using Cloudflare services.

If these sites are all on subdomains of your own domain then you can have them all under one Cloudflare configuration. Assuming your clients have custom domains for their sited then you would need Cloudflare for Saas.
https://developers.cloudflare.com/ssl/ssl-for-saas/

@atmftw

1) If one performs a reverse IP lookup on my IP or custom nameservers (to which my clients point their domain), all my clients domains are exposed.
My thoughts: If I was able to give them Cloudflare nameservers instead of my own, their domains would get mixed with thousands and thousands of other domains, and that would be OK for me. Is there a way? Would that be using custom nameservers with a business/enterprise account?

This is not how it would work, they would not need to use Cloudflare nameservers but would just add a CNAME pointing to something like app.yourcompany.tld along with a TXT record to verify ownership. This would still show the fact that they are using your service. Something may be possible on Enterprise or as a Cloudflare Partner if you have a lot of customers.

Our Partnerships

@atmftw

2) I’m also concerned about my server being attacked, like DDoS or something else.
My thoughts: só is there a way to protect my dedicated server with Cloudflare? Is it possible not to reveal my server’s IP, considering that I offer hosting services, or that must be public?

As long as you only host web based services and not email etc. then you can hide the server IP and restrict access to only come through Cloudflare. Your users would point to a hostname that resolved to Cloudflare’s IPs instead of your IP.

@atmftw

3) I’m also thinking of ways to stop using whm/cpanel to manage my clients’ websites.
My thoughts: From what I’ve understood, Cloudflare for SaaS would be a solution for that. I’d create subdomains like myclientsname(dot)mysaasdomain(dot)com, and create a custom hostname for them, so they’d use whateverdomain(dot)com with a cname record to myclientsname(dot)mysaasdomain(dot)com

Cloudflare for SaaS would so what you describe with CNAMEs but it realluy depends what you are using WHM/Cpanel for, if you are managing the hosting of the site there then it would not be a replacement.

@atmftw

I understood that I’d have to pay $2 for each custom hostname

The pricing page suggests different here:

Free, Pro, and Business Plan: Free for the first 100 hostnames and $0.10 a month for each additional custom hostname.

https://www.cloudflare.com/plans/

[atmftw]

Hi! First of all, thanks A LOT for taking the time to help me.

Now, some new doubts:

@domjh

This is not how it would work, they would not need to use Cloudflare nameservers but would just add a CNAME pointing to something like app.yourcompany.tld along with a TXT record to verify ownership. This would still show the fact that they are using your service. Something may be possible on Enterprise or as a Cloudflare Partner if you have a lot of customers.

I see. But the thing is: one of my competitors uses Cloudflare, if I reverse IP one his clients, I can’t see the domains of other customers because I get thousands of unrelated domains using Cloudflare.
With the setup I currently have (using whm/cpanel), if I reverse IP one of my clients’ domain, I can see all domains from all my customers.

@domjh

As long as you only host web based services and not email etc. then you can hide the server IP and restrict access to only come through Cloudflare. Your users would point to a hostname that resolved to Cloudflare’s IPs instead of your IP.

I do offer email but it’s not a core offer and I could shut it down if I’m ok with some whining.
How would that be exactly? My current setup is:
My domain: myexampledomain(o)com
At my registrars, current nameservers are:
ns1(o)myexampledomain(o)com, ns2(o) etc.

Still at my registrars, I set up hostnames:
ns1 pointing to (my servers IP)
ns2 pointing to (my servers second IP)

Then I create cpanel accounts for them and tell them to change their nameservers to ns1(o)myexampledomain(o)com, ns2.etc.

How would the new setup be using Cloudflare?

@domjh

Cloudflare for SaaS would so what you describe with CNAMEs but it realluy depends what you are using WHM/Cpanel for, if you are managing the hosting of the site there then it would not be a replacement.

Yes, I’m managing everything through WHM/cPanel. Via their API, my clients can create their hosting account, manage their DNS and publish their pages created with my builder, all through my app(o)mySaaS.com

Regarding price, $0.10/mo is viable, I saw $2 at Cloudflare docs if not mistaken, but that is outdated or I’m plain crazy.

Yesterday I was digging some topics at this forum and I saw one that led me to believe I can let whm/cpanel go and use amazon s3, creating subdomains on top of my domain pointing to a path at S3 and then use Cloudflare for SaaS to give my customers custom hostnames extending Cloudflare protections automaticly

Did I get that right? It seems it was most SaaS does, like Wix, Shopify etc, isn’t it? I think I’m the only weirdo using cpanel for that.

[domjh]

@atmftw

I see. But the thing is: one of my competitors uses Cloudflare, if I reverse IP one his clients, I can’t see the domains of other customers because I get thousands of unrelated domains using Cloudflare.
With the setup I currently have (using whm/cpanel), if I reverse IP one of my clients’ domain, I can see all domains from all my customers.

It depends how exactly you’re doing this and what you want to avoid. All the websites using your service would point to something.yourdomain.tld so you could still see what service the website is using. Perhaps this other service encourages their users to sign up for Cloudflare themselves on the Free plan and does not use Cloudflare for SaaS.

@atmftw

I do offer email but it’s not a core offer and I could shut it down if I’m ok with some whining.

Hosting email on the same server will expose the IP, you could do it separately on a different server but it would not be protected by Cloudflare.

@atmftw

Then I create cpanel accounts for them and tell them to change their nameservers to ns1(o)myexampledomain(o)com, ns2.etc.

Instead of them having to change their nameservers to use your service, they would continue using their own DNS provider (if they do not have one already they could choose to use Cloudflare themselves on the Free plan for DNS only). They would just add a CNAME record pointing to a hstname you give them along with a TXT record for verification. This means you wouldn’t need to manage DNS for their domains and they can just point the required hostnames to you.

@atmftw

Regarding price, $0.10/mo is viable, I saw $2 at Cloudflare docs if not mistaken, but that is outdated or I’m plain crazy.

No, it did used to be $2, it was changed in March as part of this announcement:

Security for SaaS providers

@atmftw

Yesterday I was digging some topics at this forum and I saw one that led me to believe I can let whm/cpanel go and use amazon s3, creating subdomains on top of my domain pointing to a path at S3 and then use Cloudflare for SaaS to give my customers custom hostnames extending Cloudflare protections automaticly

You can point your SaaS origin wherever you want so you can choose a hosting provider. The only think Cloudflare offers in that regard is Pages which is probably not what you are looking for.