/cloudflare-deploy

Common Use Cases

1. SSH Server Protection

Terraform:

resource "cloudflare_spectrum_application" "ssh" {
  zone_id  = var.zone_id
  protocol = "tcp/22"

  dns {
    type = "CNAME"
    name = "ssh.example.com"
  }

  origin_direct      = ["tcp://10.0.1.5:22"]
  ip_firewall        = true
  argo_smart_routing = true
}

Benefits: Hide origin IP, DDoS protection, IP firewall, Argo reduces latency

2. Game Server

TypeScript (Minecraft):

const app = await client.spectrum.apps.create({
  zone_id: 'your-zone-id',
  protocol: 'tcp/25565',
  dns: { type: 'CNAME', name: 'mc.example.com' },
  origin_direct: ['tcp://192.168.1.10:25565'],
  proxy_protocol: 'v1',  // Preserves player IPs
  argo_smart_routing: true,
});

Benefits: DDoS protection, hide origin IP, Proxy Protocol for player IPs/bans, Argo reduces latency

3. MQTT Broker

IoT device communication.

TypeScript:

const mqttApp = await client.spectrum.apps.create({
  zone_id: 'your-zone-id',
  protocol: 'tcp/8883',  // Use 1883 for plain MQTT
  dns: { type: 'CNAME', name: 'mqtt.example.com' },
  origin_direct: ['tcp://mqtt-broker.internal:8883'],
  tls: 'full',  // Use 'off' for plain MQTT
});

Benefits: DDoS protection, hide broker IP, TLS termination at edge

4. SMTP Relay

Email submission (port 587). WARNING: See gotchas.md

Terraform:

resource "cloudflare_spectrum_application" "smtp" {
  zone_id  = var.zone_id
  protocol = "tcp/587"

  dns {
    type = "CNAME"
    name = "smtp.example.com"
  }

  origin_direct = ["tcp://mail-server.internal:587"]
  tls           = "full"  # STARTTLS support
}

Limitations:

• Spectrum IPs lack reverse DNS (PTR records)
• Many mail servers reject without valid rDNS
• Best for internal/trusted relay only

5. Database Proxy

MySQL/PostgreSQL. Use with caution - security critical.

PostgreSQL:

const postgresApp = await client.spectrum.apps.create({
  zone_id: 'your-zone-id',
  protocol: 'tcp/5432',
  dns: { type: 'CNAME', name: 'postgres.example.com' },
  origin_dns: { name: 'db-primary.internal.example.com' },
  origin_port: 5432,
  tls: 'strict',      // REQUIRED
  ip_firewall: true,  // REQUIRED
});

MySQL:

resource "cloudflare_spectrum_application" "mysql" {
  zone_id  = var.zone_id
  protocol = "tcp/3306"

  dns {
    type = "CNAME"
    name = "mysql.example.com"
  }

  origin_dns {
    name = "mysql-primary.internal.example.com"
  }

  origin_port = 3306
  tls         = "strict"
  ip_firewall = true
}

Security:

• ALWAYS use tls: "strict"
• ALWAYS use ip_firewall: true
• Restrict to known IPs via zone firewall
• Use strong DB authentication
• Consider VPN or Cloudflare Access instead

6. RDP (Remote Desktop)

Requires IP firewall.

Terraform:

resource "cloudflare_spectrum_application" "rdp" {
  zone_id  = var.zone_id
  protocol = "tcp/3389"

  dns {
    type = "CNAME"
    name = "rdp.example.com"
  }

  origin_direct = ["tcp://windows-server.internal:3389"]
  tls           = "off"       # RDP has own encryption
  ip_firewall   = true        # REQUIRED
}

Security: ALWAYS ip_firewall: true, whitelist admin IPs, RDP is DDoS/brute-force target

7. Multi-Origin Failover

High availability with load balancer.

Terraform:

resource "cloudflare_load_balancer" "database_lb" {
  zone_id          = var.zone_id
  name             = "db-lb.example.com"
  default_pool_ids = [cloudflare_load_balancer_pool.db_primary.id]
  fallback_pool_id = cloudflare_load_balancer_pool.db_secondary.id
}

resource "cloudflare_load_balancer_pool" "db_primary" {
  name    = "db-primary-pool"
  origins { name = "db-1"; address = "192.0.2.1" }
  monitor = cloudflare_load_balancer_monitor.postgres_monitor.id
}

resource "cloudflare_load_balancer_pool" "db_secondary" {
  name    = "db-secondary-pool"
  origins { name = "db-2"; address = "192.0.2.2" }
  monitor = cloudflare_load_balancer_monitor.postgres_monitor.id
}

resource "cloudflare_load_balancer_monitor" "postgres_monitor" {
  type = "tcp"; port = 5432; interval = 30; timeout = 5
}

resource "cloudflare_spectrum_application" "postgres_ha" {
  zone_id     = var.zone_id
  protocol    = "tcp/5432"
  dns         { type = "CNAME"; name = "postgres.example.com" }
  origin_dns  { name = cloudflare_load_balancer.database_lb.name }
  origin_port = 5432
  tls         = "strict"
  ip_firewall = true
}

Benefits: Automatic failover, health monitoring, traffic distribution, zero-downtime deployments

See Also

• configuration.md - Origin type setup
• gotchas.md - Protocol limitations
• api.md - SDK reference