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Comment by arkitaip | Hacker News Reader

For what, DNS, Firewall, CDN?

Yes? What’s important?

I run my own server on a VPS, and serve no more than 50 concurrent users.

Depending on how your applications are coded/configured, a CDN should not be required for 50 concurrent users unless your site attracts targeted DDoS attacks. For what it's worth most VPS providers have options to front-end your site with a load balancer and/or simple DDoS protection.

Do you have a specific use case that requires a CDN? spambots brute forcing your forms?

I don’t think so? It just seems like all the kids are using CDNs these days, and some of my developer friends who have a tendency to over-architect things seem to swear by them.

some of my developer friends who have a tendency to over-architect things

I have witnessed this as well. People do a thing however may not realize why they are doing it. It reminds me of the five monkeys, the ladder, the bananas and the sprayer. [1]

I suppose that only you would know if your site really needs a CDN by looking at load/network statistics. Anecdotally the only times I have needed one was when I posted anything controversial. Even then a VPS can usually withstand some abuse but some of the admins can be quick to disable a node if they see sustained abuse. Some VPS providers are easier to manipulate into cancelling a VM without proper investigation. It also depends on how experienced the person responding to their abuse@ complaints is that day.

For what it's worth, HN is not using a CDN and is just running on one server.

[1] - https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6828/was-the-ex...

You still aren't explaining what you use cloudflare for or why you included them in your architecture.

I don’t use Cloudflare or any CDN right now. I feel like I’m not a likely target for DDoS attacks.

I guess my secondary question is, why do many people running pretty small websites use and swear by them? I’m just trying to understand how necessary CDNs are, and is CF the CDN to use?

Personally I have 75 domains that use Cloudflare (not very normal but yeah)

Most of which are just small personal sites

I use Cloudflare to: 1. Give me easy SSL on all of the sites ("flexible", so not 'proper' ssl) 2. Hide my origin IPs 3. Easy compression, minification, caching, etc. 4. Host some sites on Cloudflare Pages

CDNs certainly aren't necessary for small websites but I'd say Cloudflare is the one to use if you want one, but also want to avoid spending money.

If you feel like you don't need or want one, honestly just don't bother with it.

Thanks for the insight!

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