Website & Application Hosting
Provides the origin: the platform the site or application runs on, its deployment flow, monitoring and backups. Choose it when the current hosting is slow, hard to update or poorly understood.
Cloud & Infrastructure2 services
Hosting, DNS & edge
Where your website or application runs, and the layer that directs, secures and speeds up every visit to it.
The problem
The website runs on a hosting plan chosen years ago, DNS is managed at the registrar by someone who has since left, and the SSL certificate has expired at least once. Pages load slowly for visitors far from the server, and bot traffic hits the login page constantly. Nobody is confident enough to change a DNS record, because the last change briefly took email down. Hosting and DNS are being treated as separate problems when they are one path.
The outcome
The site runs on suitable hosting behind a documented DNS and edge layer, with encryption, caching and basic filtering in place. Changes to either layer are planned with a clear record of what each setting does, so routine updates no longer carry hidden risk.
In this group
The services, and what each one does here
DNS, CDN & Edge Services
Provides the path to that origin — DNS, SSL/TLS, caching, firewall rules and redirects, managed on Cloudflare as DNS, CDN and edge services. Choose it when DNS ownership is unclear, the site needs faster delivery or it attracts unwanted traffic.
How they work together
The path from domain to running site
DNS points the way
The DNS zone directs the domain to the hosting platform. When hosting changes, the DNS records change with it in a planned cut-over, so visitors move to the new origin without guesswork.
The edge sits in front of hosting
Requests pass through the edge before reaching the origin. It handles encryption, serves cached pages and assets from nearby locations and filters unwanted traffic, which reduces the load the hosting has to carry.
Settings are agreed between layers
Caching rules, SSL modes and security headers only work when the hosting and edge settings agree. Setting both up together avoids redirect loops, stale pages and certificate errors that appear when each is configured in isolation.
Email shares the zone
The same DNS zone holds the business's mail records. Managing it as one documented system means a website change does not accidentally break email delivery.
Select a part of the diagram to see what it does.
- A visitor enters the business's domain, and DNS resolves it to the edge layer rather than directly to the server.
- The edge layer encrypts the connection, serves cached content where it can and filters unwanted traffic.
- Requests that need fresh content pass through to the hosting platform, where the site or application runs.
- Changes reach the hosting through a deployment flow, with monitoring and separate backups, while the same DNS zone keeps directing the business's email.
Choosing
Which do you need?
Many projects use more than one of these. If the situation doesn't fit neatly, describe it and we'll suggest where to start.
Ask which fits- Our site is slow. Is that hosting or the edge?
- It can be either, and often both. A review of response times at the origin and how much is served from cache shows which layer to address first; heavy pages may also need work on the site itself.
- Can we keep our current host and only add DNS and edge services?
- Yes, if the host is reliable and maintainable. Many sites keep their existing hosting and gain encryption, caching and filtering by putting a managed edge layer in front.
- Does either service include changes to the website?
- No. These services cover where the site runs and how it is reached. Content, code and plugin updates belong to Website Management & Maintenance.
Talk to IOPIA about hosting, DNS & edge.
Tell us what you have today and what isn't working. One conversation can cover several of these services.