Computerminds Migrates 1,000 Websites to Cloudflare for Better Security and Efficiency

The UK-based web development company Computerminds successfully migrated over 1,000 websites to Cloudflare in 2024. This move aims to improve security, reduce costs, and enhance website performance. Using the Aegir hosting system, designed to manage large numbers of Drupal-based websites, the team created automated processes to handle the complex migration.

According to an article by Nathan Page, published by Computerminds on 27 November, the decision to migrate was driven by the increasing risk of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks and the need to reduce server loads. A test in early 2024 confirmed that Cloudflare could deliver strong protection while also lowering operational costs. Computerminds used Cloudflare’s Application Programming Interface (API) to automate key tasks like managing domain records, verifying website ownership, and securing websites with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates.

To make the process smoother, Computerminds developed a user-friendly system for tracking migration progress and allowed clients to update their domain settings through a simple interface. Despite challenges in coordinating changes across multiple stakeholders, the migration of 990 sites was completed within weeks. The transition has already resulted in reduced server requests and bandwidth usage, highlighting the initiative's success.