Mirage's Notebook 📖

    Cloudflare-Tunnels

    🌐 Cloudflare Tunnel Setup Guide

    🔍 Overview

    [!info]
    Cloudflare Tunnel is a service that provides secure access to web applications, protecting your servers from direct attacks. This solution helps avoid complex network setups and eliminates the need for traditional ACLs and GRE tunnels. It's ideal for protecting applications running in any environment, whether in the public cloud, private cloud, Kubernetes clusters, or even a local server.

    🛠️ Installing Cloudflare Tunnel

    Step 1: Download and Install the Cloudflare Tunnel Service

    [!tip]
    On your Ubuntu machine, run the following command to download and install the Cloudflare Tunnel service:

    wget -q https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb && sudo dpkg -i cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb

    🌍 Explore More: Learn more about Cloudflare Tunnel installation options for other systems on Cloudflare Tunnel Docs.

    Step 2: Login to Cloudflare

    [!info]
    After installing, use the following command to log in to your Cloudflare account:

    cloudflared tunnel login

    You will be prompted to visit a URL in your browser and log in to Cloudflare. After logging in, Cloudflare will provide you with a cert.pem file. Make sure to note the location of this file, as you will need it in subsequent steps.

    🌍 Explore More: Cloudflare login options and troubleshooting can be found on Cloudflare CLI Documentation.

    🚀 Creating a Tunnel

    Step 3: Create a Tunnel

    [!warning]
    To create a new tunnel, run the following command:

    cloudflared tunnel create <NAME>

    Replace <NAME> with the name you want to assign to your tunnel. After running this command, make a note of where Cloudflare saves your tunnel credentials.

    🌍 Explore More: For an in-depth guide on creating and managing tunnels, visit Cloudflare Tunnels Documentation.

    ⚙️ Configuring the Tunnel

    Step 4: Create the Configuration File

    [!tip]
    Create a configuration file for your tunnel in the .cloudflared directory:

    nano /home/$USER/.cloudflared/config.yaml

    Inside the config.yaml file, add the following lines:

    tunnel: Your-Tunnel-Id
credentials-file: /home/$USER/.cloudflared/1d4537b6-67b9-4c75-a022-ce805acd5c0a.json

    Make sure to replace Your-Tunnel-Id with your actual tunnel ID. The credentials-file path should point to the JSON file you received earlier in the process.

    🌍 Explore More: Check out more configuration options on the Cloudflare Tunnel Configuration Guide.

    Step 5: Add Your First Site

    [!note]
    To route traffic to your site (e.g., example.com), run the following command:

    cloudflared tunnel route dns <name of the tunnel> <example.com>

    This command associates your tunnel with the DNS record example.com.

    🌍 Explore More: Learn about DNS routing and configurations from the Cloudflare DNS Documentation.

    🔄 Setting Up Ingress

    Step 6: Create an Ingress File

    [!tip]
    Create a file named config.yml in the .cloudflared directory:

    nano /home/$USER/.cloudflared/config.yml

    In this file, define the ingress rules as follows:

    ingress:
  - hostname: example.com
    service: http://internalip:80
  - hostname: sub.example.com
    service: http://internalip:88
  - service: http_status:404 # This is required as a 'catch-all'

    Replace example.com with your actual domain and internalip with the internal IP address of your server.

    🌍 Explore More: For detailed information on ingress configuration, check out Cloudflare Ingress Documentation.

    🏃 Running the Tunnel

    Step 7: Start the Tunnel

    [!warning]
    To start the tunnel, run the following command:

    cloudflared tunnel run <name of your tunnel>

    Replace <name of your tunnel> with the name you assigned earlier.

    🌍 Explore More: Learn about running Cloudflare Tunnel in production from the Cloudflare Tunnel Runtime Documentation.

    🗃️ Running the Tunnel as a Service

    Step 8: Create a Service for Auto-Start

    [!info]
    To ensure that the tunnel starts automatically with your machine, install Cloudflare as a service:

    cloudflared service install

    🌍 Explore More: For more about managing Cloudflare Tunnel as a service, visit Cloudflare Tunnel Service Installation.

    Step 9: Enable and Start the Service

    [!tip]
    Enable the Cloudflare Tunnel service to start on boot and start it immediately:

    systemctl enable --now cloudflared

    🌍 Explore More: For more service management commands, refer to Systemd Service Management.

    🔧 Troubleshooting and Additional Notes

    [!warning]

    • Ensure {{DNS}} propagation: If your tunnel does not work immediately, verify DNS settings and propagation.

    • Check firewall settings: Ensure your firewall allows traffic on the relevant ports for your services.

    • Monitor the tunnel: Use cloudflared logs to view logs if issues arise with your tunnel.

    🌍 Explore More: For troubleshooting tips, visit Cloudflare Troubleshooting Guide.

    [!info]

    For additional details and advanced configurations, visit the official Cloudflare Tunnel documentation:

    📚 Tags:

    #Cloudflare
    #Tunnel
    #SSL
    #DNS
    #Ingress
    #Kubernetes
    #CLI
    #Security

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