Activating the IONOS CDN

Valid for Web Hosting.

With the IONOS Content Delivery Network (CDN) powered by Cloudflare, you can improve the loading time of your website for visitors all over the world. The CDN stores copies of your website content on a global network of servers, and delivers them to your visitors from the nearest location. This ensures faster page loading and a better user experience.

In this guide, we will show you how to activate the CDN for a domain in your IONOS contract.

Tip: Would you like to find out more about how a CDN works and its benefits? Read our article on the basics: What is the IONOS CDN?

Requirements

To be able to use the CDN, you need a CDN Basic or CDN Pro package that has not yet been activated in your contract.

Don't have a CDN package yet? The article Ordering the IONOS CDN explains how you can add a suitable package to your contract at any time.

Important notes before activation

Please note the following points before you start the setup:

Activation for subdomains only: The CDN can only be activated for subdomains (e.g. www.example.com or blog.example.com). Activation for the main domain itself (also known as the "root domain", e.g. example.com) is not technically possible. Activating the CDN changes the DNS entries of the subdomain so that they point to the Cloudflare network. Therefore, make sure that your website is accessible via a subdomain.
One CDN package per main domain: A separate CDN package is required for each main domain (e.g. example.com). If you would like to use the CDN for subdomains of different main domains (e.g. www.example.com and shop.example.net), you need a separate CDN package for each domain.
Technical restrictions: A subdomain cannot be connected to the CDN if it is already being used for technical services such as email, FTP, SSH, or for individual DNS settings (e.g. an A record that points to an external server).

Activate CDN

Log in to your IONOS account.
Click Menu > Hosting in the title bar.
Optional: If you have several contracts, select the contract that contains the desired domain.
On the hosting overview, click Manage in the CDN tile. You will be redirected to the CDN overview.
Click Activate next to the CDN package you want to use.
Select the domain for which you want to set up the CDN from the list. You will now be shown all technically compatible subdomains.
Tick the checkbox next to the subdomain (or subdomains) that is to be delivered via the CDN.
Click on Save.

The CDN will now be set up for the selected subdomains. Please note that it may take a few hours for your content to be distributed to all servers in the CDN network and delivered completely via the CDN.

Further information

You can find more information about IONOS CDN powered by Cloudflare in the following article:

What is the IONOS CDN?