If your website isn‘t lightning fast and locked down tight, you‘re bleeding money from lost traffic, customers and security breaches.
Not exactly what you want…
In this detailed guide, I‘ll show you how to leverage StackPath – an emerging all-in-one content delivery and security solution – to give your website Ferrari acceleration with bank-vault protection.
And here‘s the kicker:
You can set the entire thing up in under 15 minutes.
I‘ll walk you through exactly what to do, step-by-step. By the end, your site performance will rival industry leaders while threats bounce off your armor plated walls.
Let‘s get to it! This is what we‘ll cover:
Part 1: Why Speed + Security Are Non-Negotiable in 2023
Part 2: StackPath Overview – CDN and WAF Superpowers
Part 3: Getting Set Up in Under 15 Minutes
Part 4: Configuration Guide – Optimization from A to Z
Part 5: Monitoring and Protecting Your Fortress
Part 6: Recap – Are You Ready to Supercharge?
Why You Absolutely Must Invest in Speed + Security
Before we dig into StackPath specifically, it‘s important to understand why you need to care about making your website blazing fast and hack-proof.
Let‘s start with site speed…
These numbers speak for themselves:
- 53% of mobile site visitors will leave a page that takes over 3 seconds to load. [source]
- Every 100ms of delay costs Amazon 1% in sales. [source]
Slow load times cripple conversions and directly rob you of revenue. But there‘s more…
Google now uses page speed as a ranking factor in search. Fast sites get boosted to the top.
Give your SEO a kick in the pants by accelerating page loads network-wide.
Now onto vulnerabilities…
The threat landscape grows more dangerous by the day. Is your site ready?
- 90,000+ websites get hacked every day on average. [Source: PurpleSec]
- DDoS attacks increasing over 200% year over year [Source: Cloudflare]
With backdoors like SQL injection, weak passwords, and DDoS floods, it‘s not if but when attackers will come knocking.
Be proactive. Harden security now before you end up as another statistic.
Between lost visitors on slow pages and financial impacts of breaches, can you afford NOT to address performance and security?
StackPath: Your Website‘s Personal Bodyguard
So what‘s the solution?
Enter StackPath – an emerging one-two punch combining:
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Global CDN: content delivery network to cache and accelerate content
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Enterprise WAF: high-grade web application firewall to block threats
This unified approach supercharges speed while locking down vulnerabilities.
Let‘s explore the key capabilities:
Content Delivery & Caching
StackPath boasts a large network of 45+ global edge locations to store and serve your content from the closest point to your visitors for lightning fast delivery around the world.
You define intelligent caching rules – choose what to cache, for how long, when to purge, etc.
Further optimizations like compression, HTTP/2, browser caching config, and origin shielding give you granular control over performance.
Web Security
On the security side, StackPath packs an enterprise-class web application firewall (WAF).
This acts as your first line of defense to filter traffic and block attacks before they reach your origin servers.
Out of the box, you get protection against:
- OWASP Top 10 web app vulnerabilities
- Cross-site scripting (XSS)
- Injection threats e.g. SQLi, RFI
- Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
- DDoS floods up to 3 Gbps
- Botnets, scraping and theft
And for advanced users, StackPath enables crafting custom WAF rules based on factors like:
- IP addresses
- Geographic locations
- User agents
- URL paths
- Content types
- HTTP methods
We‘ll explore how to leverage these later.
Unified Management
The key differentiation of StackPath is offering both CDN and WAF in one unified solution, managed from a single dashboard.
This eliminates the complexities of patching together disparate vendors and tools.
Let‘s get your site onboarded!
Setting Up StackPath CDN + WAF: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough
I‘ll walk you through onboarding step-by-step. Don‘t worry – it‘s straightforward:
1) Create Your StackPath Account
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Go to Stackpath.com and click Sign Up
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Choose the delivery plan you want – I recommend the Edge Delivery 20 plan to get both CDN and WAF.
2) Enter Your Domain
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Next, add the domain name of your site
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Click Validate then Continue
3) Configure DNS
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StackPath will scan and show your current DNS records
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Review then click Next to proceed
4) Set Origin Type
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Choose your origin server type and enter the IP address
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Ask your hosting provider if unsure
5) Update Nameservers
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Make note the new StackPath nameservers shown
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Login to your domain registrar account like GoDaddy
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Update the custom nameservers to point to StackPath
6) Confirm Activation
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It may take up to 24 hours for DNS changes to fully propagate globally
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Return to StackPath portal to confirm activation
And that‘s the basics to get your site onboarding and StackPath enabled!
The heavy lifting is on the configuration end to take full advantage of speed and security superpowers.
Let‘s tackle that now…
StackPath Configuration Guide: Extracting Max Performance
Your website is now flowing through StackPath servers. What next?
We need to optimize everything for blazing fast speeds and ironclad protection.
Here‘s how to dial in settings for maximum results:
1. Activate Free SSL
First, encrypt everything with a free SSL certificate included from StackPath EdgeSSL.
This gives you the green padlock and critical https security ranking boost in search engines:
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Go to Edge Config >> EdgeSSL
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Generate and deploy certificate
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Force all requests over https in EdgeRules
2. CDN Performance Optimization
From cache settings to compression levels, get granular with speed configs:
Caching
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Set cache expiration headers for static assets
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Configure caching rules based on file types
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Smartly purge cache when needed
Other Optimization Levers
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Enable Gzip compression level 4-6
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Lower TTFB with HTTP/2 support
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Ensure origin failover for max uptime
Dial these in to wring out every last drop of performance.
3. Lock Down Security Defaults
StackPath WAF auto-protects against the nastiest web app vulnerabilities.
Toggle on OWASP Top 10 coverage, SQL injection protection, XSS defense, bot blocking and more.
Audit all enabled rulesets under WAF Policy tab.
4. Build Custom WAF Rules
Here‘s where things get interesting! StackPath lets you create targeted rules based on:
- IP addresses
- Locations
- User agents
- URL paths
- Content types
- HTTP methods
Block Aggressive Scrapers
Identify shady user agents stealing your content via an API and permanently block their access with custom match criteria.
Rate Limit Abusive IPs
Got some bad apples hammering your app?
Match on their IP address and impose per-minute request limits.
Restrict Dangerous HTTP Methods
Disallow unneeded methods like DELETE/PUT/TRACE to reduce attack surface.
The possibilities are endless. Get creative with rules to safeguard your digital assets.
Monitoring Your StackPath Fortress
With your finely tuned speed demon secure fortress setup, let‘s make sure it stays up and running smoothly.
StackPath includes built-in site monitoring with uptime testing across dozens of global regions.
Create a monitor for your domain with key criteria:
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Test locations by geography
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Frequency of checks
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Alert thresholds
But StackPath monitoring goes far beyond basic uptime stats.
Gain insights into:
- Page load times, TTFB
- Traffic volumes
- 4xx/5xx errors
- Security events
Compare this against Google Analytics for deeper visibility than GSC alone.
Configure notifications to be the first to know if performance dips or threats emerge.
Recap: Are You Ready to Supercharge Your Stack?
We‘ve covered a ton of ground here on using StackPath CDN and WAF to take your website to the next level.
Let‘s recap the key takeaways:
- Site speed and security are mandatory for growth in 2023
- StackPath uniquely combines CDN and WAF into a single solution
- You can setup the entire platform in under 15 minutes
- Comprehensive configuration unlocks maximum speed and protection
- Ongoing monitoring gives visibility to maintain excellence
The bottom line?
Stop leaving your online presence to chance.
StackPath makes it easy to transform your website into a lightning fast cyberfortress, impenetrable to threats that plague lesser defended sites.
You have zero excuses now 🙂
And with StackPath offering a risk-free one month trial, why not give it a shot?
Get your trial started here and let me know if any part of setup needs clarification!
It‘s time to take back control of speed and security. Your customers are waiting!
