Nexcess is a leading managed WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento hosting provider. We offer a robust portfolio of products, services, and add-ons to help individuals and enterprises expand their online presence. Furthermore, our content platforms here at Nexcess are optimized for running ecommerce operations successfully. Website administrators around the world have come to trust Nexcess as a reliable hosting provider.
Starting August 3, 2023, one of the valuable features our hosting plans will offer is the tight integration with a company at the forefront of building a better online experience for website audiences — Cloudflare. Cloudflare has a global network of servers that provides various security and enterprise performance benefits for websites. Pricing starts at $5/month per site protected.
In partnership with Cloudflare, Nexcess is excited to introduce its clients to the Performance Shield feature set. These bundled features are provided in the Enterprise Performance and Protect add-on for Cloudflare integration with your Nexcess account. We refer to the product as the Nexcess Enterprise Performance and Protect add-on — or the Performance Shield add-on as a shorter name.
About our partnership with Cloudflare —an industry leader in website performance and security
Nexcess chose to partner with Cloudflare because of the company's proven track record of providing reliable and secure services. Cloudflare has a vast network of servers that can quickly and efficiently deliver content to users worldwide. And, the numerous security features developed as part of Cloudflare's core products help protect websites from attacks. These features give your website a level of enterprise performance and security that is notable.
In addition to security and enterprise performance, Cloudflare offers many other business benefits. For example, Cloudflare can help improve website Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by making websites load faster and more reliably. The company can also help businesses save money on bandwidth costs.
Overall, Nexcess chose to partner with Cloudflare because of the company's comprehensive suite of security, enterprise performance, and SEO benefits. Cloudflare can help businesses of all sizes improve their online presence and protect their websites from attacks.
Here are some of the specific benefits that Nexcess and our customers get from using Performance Shield:
- Increased website security. Cloudflare's security features can help protect websites from various attacks, including DDoS attacks, SQL injection attacks, and cross-site scripting attacks.
- Improved website performance. Cloudflare's network of servers can help deliver content to users worldwide more quickly and reliably. The result is quicker page loading times and an improved user experience. This overall site speed and better Time To First Byte brings a level of enterprise performance to you online web presence.
- Reduced bandwidth costs. Cloudflare can help businesses save money on bandwidth costs by caching content and delivering it from the closest server to the user.
- Improved website SEO. Cloudflare can help improve website SEO by making websites load faster and more reliably. Higher rankings in that Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are seen using Cloudflare as part of your website's architecture.
Performance Shield is available for purchase in 3 different tiers and is priced per site per month
Performance Shield features and value-added benefits are provided by tier as follows:
All Tiers
Medium Tier and Large Tier
Large Tier
Do I have to point my domain at Nexcess name servers?
If you have already pointed your domain to use Nexcess name servers, then you will not have to change anything to be able to use the Performance Shield add-on for your site domain. To be able to order our Performance Shield product then, the site domain will need to be using the Nexcess name servers.
How do I order the Performance Shield add-on from Nexcess?
You can add the add-on directly from the Nexcess Client Portal via the Site Dashboard of your site using the Nexcess CDN tab, and it will cover the number of domains you signed up for on the add-on. If you have already pointed your domain at the Nexcess name servers, you can order and use the Performance Shield add-on for your site:
What are the security benefits of the Performance Shield add-on?
Cloudflare Web Application Firewall (WAF) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection some of the leading edge-based security benefits gained. Cloudflare's DDoS and WAF can help to protect your site from these attacks by filtering out malicious traffic, blocking known attack vectors, and alerting you to potential threats:
If your site is under attack from a DDoS attack, you can enable that protection directly in the Nexcess Client Portal for your site by turning on Under Attack mode:
When the site is no longer under attack, the mode can be deactivated in the site's portal:
What are the site optimization benefits of the Performance Shield add-on?
With the Performance Shield add-on, you can optimize images to be converted on the fly at the edge for site visitors and minify at the edge CSS and JavaScript assets being loaded on your site:
By optimizing your images, you can significantly improve the speed of your website, which will lead to optimized conversion rates. Optimized images are smaller, meaning they use less bandwidth when delivered to visitors. This efficiency improvement can save you money on hosting costs and increase your website's performance:
Image optimization and code minification features are both enabled by default when Performance Shield is added to your site.
Can I still use the Nexcess Edge CDN?
Yes, if you already use the Nexcess Edge CDN for site assets, that will continue to work with the Enterprise Performance Shield and Protection add-on that we offer.
How will my proxy service work with the Performance Shield add-on?
If you use another proxy service, such as Sucuri, you cannot use the Performance Shield add-on since your name servers would be pointed at Sucuri.
Does the Performance Shield add-on work with WordPress plugins?
The Nexcess integration of Cloudflare's Performance Shield features set will work with WordPress plugins and will not be an issue. Rest assured that the health of your plugins and themes is not a concern as you maximize the benefits of the Enterprise Performance and Protection add-on from Nexcess. This product has been well tested in this regard.
Where is the Performance Shield functionality located in the Nexcess Client Portal?
Performance Shield settings are found in the Nexcess CDN tab of a site’s navigation in the portal. In the site list, customers will see a cloud icon for each eligible site that is a shortcut to that page.
Customers will also notice additional CNAME and ALIAS records have been added to their DNS zones to support this feature. (Please don’t delete them!)
Is this service available for Nexcess Classic (non-Cloud) customers?
Not at this time, but we expect to be able to offer it to them in the coming months.
Can Performance Shield be activated for all sites on a plan?
Performance Shield can be activated for all sites on Managed WordPress and Managed WooCommerce plans. Performance Shield can only be activated for the primary site on Managed Magento, Flexible Cloud, and other managed applications (T-shirt) plans.
Can I use my own individual Cloudflare account?
If you want to reduce costs and gain access to the Performance Shield feature, it would be worth going with the Performance Shield add-on compared to using your Cloudflare account. Depending on the plan that you are using, you may need access to the full range of features.
Why you should leverage the bundled site optimization features that come with the Performance Shield add-on
Our Performance Shield add-on will allow your site to use the leading-edge features provided for your site with easy optimization. Your changes can be managed directly in the Nexcess Client Portal using the your Site Dashboard's functionality. According, Cloudflare feature management is straightforward and easy to use.
About using the Performance Shield add-on from Nexcess versus your own Cloudflare account
Suppose you are already using your own Cloudflare account. In that case, there is a lot of crossover with regard to included functionality — depending on which features you currently use in your account and with the Performance Shield add-on from Nexcess.
Suppose you are only using a free Cloudflare account. In that case, you should consider the premium enterprise-level DDoS and WAF protection security options provided with our Performance Shield option via the Enterprise Performance and Protection add-on powered by Cloudflare.
Explore our Edge network, powered by Cloudflare
Improve page speed with our purpose-built Content Delivery Network (CDN). Our edge network is integrated into our platforms for easy use without configuration complexity.
You should consider using your host's provided Cloudflare integration instead of your own Cloudflare account for a few reasons.
- Ease of use. The Nexcess integration is more user-friendly than Cloudflare. Since the correct setup has already been configured Cloudflare, you don't have to worry about setting up Domain Name System (DNS) records, configuring the firewall, or managing other settings. These benefits save you time!
- Cost savings. Your host may offer a discounted rate for Cloudflare if you use their integration. This can save you money if you're already paying for hosting with your host. This kind of a bundled package and feature set is great example the value that exists with our Enterprise Performance and Protect add-on powered by Cloudflare. Nexcess wants to give you the features you need to run a successful website at a lower overall price point.
- More features. Nexcess provides additional features not available with Cloudflare's free plan. For example, our paid web hosting plans bundle several features like Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates, free website migration services, worldclass support from the most helpful humans in the industry, and much more.
However, there are also a few reasons why you might want to use your own Cloudflare account.
- More control. When you use your Cloudflare account, you have more control over the settings. This situation is because you're not limited to the features that your host offers.
- Flexibility. You can use Cloudflare with any web host, not just your current host. This flexibility gives you more flexibility if you ever decide to switch hosts.
- Privacy. If you use your own Cloudflare account, your DNS records will be stored with Cloudflare, not with your host. This kind of setup can be a privacy advantage if your host is concerned about accessing your DNS records.
If you choose to use your own Cloudflare account
In the final analysis, your decision on which Cloudflare implementation will depend on your needs and preferences. Suppose you're looking for an easy and affordable upgrade for improving the security and performance of your site. In that case, using the Enterprise Performance and Protect add-on for Cloudflare integration from Nexcess is an excellent option.
However, that stated, if you need more control or flexibility, then using your own Cloudflare account is a better choice. If you do decide to go with your own, the following resources can benefit you:
- What is Cloudflare CDN? How to use Cloudflare CDN
- Cloudflare WordPress setup for your CDN solution
- Cloudflare firewall rules for WordPress
- Magento Content Delivery Network (CDN) setup using Cloudflare
- Cloudflare SSL with Cloudflare origin certificate
- Cloudflare image optimization with Cloudflare Polish
The included Cloudflare articles listed above are relevant for Nexcess customers keeping their own Cloudflare account. Individual Cloudflare accounts can be configured to work with site domains managed by our Nexcess hosting platform.
However, if Nexces customers want all of the enterprise features discussed at lower cost than paying for and maintaining an individual Cloudflare account, then the Performance Shield add-on from Nexcess — and powered by Cloudflare — introduced in this article is highly recommended.
