Cloudflare Tunnels (previously called Argo Tunnels)
Cloudflare Tunnels (previously called Argo Tunnels) are one of Cloudflare’s most powerful networking features. They let you securely connect your private applications, servers, or even entire networks to Cloudflare’s global edge without exposing your origin IP address and without opening inbound firewall ports.
Here’s a deep dive:
In your ecosystem (ASP.NET Core MVC, private nodes, Raspberry Pis, shop dashboards, etc.), Cloudflare Tunnels would be a perfect way to expose your private dashboards or internal apps to your vetted members without revealing your infrastructure.
Cloudflare Tunnels (previously called Argo Tunnels) are one of Cloudflare’s most powerful networking features. They let you securely connect your private applications, servers, or even entire networks to Cloudflare’s global edge without exposing your origin IP address and without opening inbound firewall ports.
Here’s a deep dive:
1. What Cloudflare Tunnels Do
- They create an outbound-only connection from your server to Cloudflare’s network.
- This means:
- No need to open ports (your firewall stays locked down).
- No direct exposure of your server’s IP address to the internet.
- All traffic goes through Cloudflare’s edge network.
- Effectively, your origin is hidden behind Cloudflare, making DDoS, port scans, and direct attacks impossible.
2. How They Work
- You install a lightweight daemon called cloudflared on your machine (Linux, Windows, macOS, or even Docker/Raspberry Pi).
- cloudflared initiates outbound HTTPS connections to Cloudflare’s edge.
- Cloudflare associates this tunnel with your domain (example: app.example.com).
- When someone visits your domain:
- Cloudflare terminates the request at its edge.
- Then it securely forwards the request through the tunnel to your private app or server.
3. Key Benefits
- Zero Trust Access: Combine with Cloudflare Access to require identity-based login before users can reach your apps.
- No VPN Needed: Remote workers access internal apps (dashboards, dev tools, etc.) without connecting to a corporate VPN.
- Hide Origin Infrastructure: Your servers never need a public IP.
- Resilient: Each tunnel can maintain multiple simultaneous connections to different Cloudflare data centers for redundancy.
4. Use Cases
- Hosting a self-hosted dashboard or API without exposing it to the internet.
- Giving remote workers access to internal company apps.
- Exposing IoT devices (like Raspberry Pi projects) to the internet securely.
- Protecting admin panels or developer tools with Cloudflare Access (SSO, 2FA, identity policies).
- Migrating from VPNs or bastion hosts to a Zero Trust model.
5. Security Model
- Outbound only: Nothing is listening for inbound connections.
- Mutual TLS authentication: Cloudflare verifies the tunnel identity.
- Tied to your domain: You decide which hostname points to which tunnel.
- Integration with WAF and Bot Management: Requests are filtered at the edge before they ever hit your server.
6. Developer & Ops Features
- Works with Docker Compose (common in dev/staging environments).
- Supports TCP tunnels (not just HTTP/HTTPS), meaning you can tunnel SSH, RDP, databases, or even game servers.
- CLI lets you manage tunnels with commands like:
- cloudflared tunnel create <name>
- cloudflared tunnel route dns <name> <hostname>
- cloudflared tunnel run <name>
7. Pricing
- Free for personal projects and small deployments.
- Included in Cloudflare Zero Trust plans (Pro, Business, Enterprise) with advanced features like identity-based policies, logging, and analytics.
8. Alternatives/Comparisons
- Similar to ngrok, Tailscale Funnel, or OpenVPN with port forwarding, but Cloudflare Tunnels are:
- More enterprise-grade.
- Integrated with Cloudflare’s edge (WAF, DDoS, caching, access).
- Globally distributed by design.
In your ecosystem (ASP.NET Core MVC, private nodes, Raspberry Pis, shop dashboards, etc.), Cloudflare Tunnels would be a perfect way to expose your private dashboards or internal apps to your vetted members without revealing your infrastructure.