@GaryCook (and
@Dx3webs ...... @others),
It is a persistent problem with 2 faces: (on the one hand) the nature of the Plesk Cloudflare ServerShield extension is a bit peculiar and, more important,
outdated (read: not even in line with most recent API changes on the Cloudflare side) and (on the other hand) Cloudflare accounts and/or Cloudflare are a bit "sticky", in general.
In both cases, the majority of the burden of responsibility is on the shoulders of Cloudflare: in a sense, this topic thread is to some extent not related to Plesk.
In short, the questions in this topic thread should
actually be posted on a Cloudflare forum and/or being mentioned as a "bug" to the Cloudflare support team.
Nevertheless, it is Plesk (as a company and Cloudflare partner) that should actually bring this "issue" under the attention of Cloudflare - after all, the
free Cloudflare extension and the paid-for Cloudflare extension are making use of some specific set of functionality that is not really "common" when compared to the current Cloudflare plans.
The problem is very likely that Cloudflare has no intention to give priority to this particular Plesk extension, as the focus at Cloudflare shifted from "free Cloudflare for all, with additional paid-for premium features" towards the current "paid-for Cloudflare plans ......and ....... free Cloudflare plans, rather not".
In summary, there is only a
small chance that the Plesk extension will be improved and updated.
Now, let's return to the
actual problem: stickiness of accounts and DNS.
There is a
solution, I will elaborate on this:
a)
Sticky accounts: if one wants the highest degree of flexibility when using Plesk Cloudflare ServerShield extension, just use the following steps
1 - create a separate account via
Cloudflare | Web Performance & Security (and just sign up, i.e. register a new account)
2 - when
associating domains: use the (newly created) account (from step 1) in the Plesk Cloudflare ServerShield extension
3 - when
disassociating domains: use the Cloudflare dashboard and just remove a website (and refresh the Plesk Panel)
and
note that
- you will be able to "delete" (read: disassociate domains) on a individual basis quite easily
- you will not be able to associate subdomains individually: it is only possible to associate/disassociate domains in the form [domain].[tld], hence including subdomains!
b)
Sticky DNS: one can use three methods of (properly) creating DNS records associated with domains hosted with a Plesk instance, being
1 - use the Plesk Cloudflare ServerShield extension: this is rather limited, in the sense that full DNS control is a bit absent
2 - use
external DNS records: for a relatively good instruction, see
this article by Cloudflare
3 - use
Cloudflare (blazing fast) DNS: this is the best solution, but it is not suitable for scenario's in which one has the paid-for ServerShield Plus extension
and
note that
- option 1 will lead to immediate DNS propagation,
if and only if the Cloudflare dashboard has been used to remove DNS for domains
- option 2 will lead to immediate or fast DNS propagation,
if and only if the externally managed DNS records have a low TTL and a close proximity to the internet backbone
- option 3 will lead to unpredictable behavior: sometimes it will work immediately and sometimes DNS has not even been released after weeks
In conclusion, (one the hand) we will have to wait until Cloudflare reacts with appropriate action to notifications by Plesk Team, which is a shame on Cloudflare in my humble opinion and (on the other hand) try to use the Plesk Cloudflare Servershield extension whenever possible (unless you are fully able to manage DNS properly).
Hope the above explains a bit ...... and helps a bit.
Regards........
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