Get (free) incapsula CDN

In our previous post ‘How to increase WordPress performance’ we shortly discussed the benefits of using a CDN service and in particular that of Incapsula. I have enjoyed their free service plan for a couple of years now and am very happy with it; the helpdesk is fast, your website will enjoy extra protection and the performance upgrade they will give your website(s) will amaze you, but what do they do exactly? I’m not technologically talented so we will have Incapsula do the talking here:

Incapsula gives any website the security and performance previously only available to the website elite. Through a simple DNS settings change, website traffic is seamlessly routed through Incapsula’s global network of high-powered servers. Incoming traffic is intelligently profiled, in real-time, blocking even the latest web threats from sophisticated SQL injection attacks to malicious bots and intruding comment spammers. Meanwhile, outgoing traffic is accelerated and optimized for faster load times, keeping welcome visitors speeding through.

So basically it’s simple to get and it will make my website faster and better protected? Allright!!

Be sure to check out the featured (free) plugin below:

The step by step hook-up

1. Go to Incapsula and sign up
2. Choose a plan
3. Fill in the name of your website, including the www.*
4. Incapsula will now present you the changes you have to make in DNS
5. Change your DNS settings in providers DNS management or Cpanel
6. Give it a couple of days
7. Caching will improve over the next weeks

DONE!

* on URL registration Incapsula insists to use domain names including the www.

NB. In some cases you will be prompted to add another A record pointing to a second IP address, this is requested for redundancy reasons. Not every provider will allow this (as didn’t ours), in that case it is sufficient to change the first A record and use the ‘redirect naked domain to www.’ function in the Incapsula dashboard.

Some notes

Now the only thing that might give you some trouble would be changing the DNS settings, especially if you have not done this before. Note that there can be no hidden blanc spaces in IP adresses (copy/paste much?), it took me a while until I figured that one out. I have no experience using the Cpanel so unfortunately I can’t be of much assistance there. You might find this interesting, though.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and that it was of use to you, if you have any questions, additions or remarks please do not hesitate to leave me a comment below. Godspeed!

 
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Over

A Wordpress wielding cool rocking daddy in the lowlands. WPMU DEV member, carpenter, Yoga and meditation.