Set up your first tunnel
Follow this step-by-step guide to get your first tunnel up and running. Before you start, make sure you:
1. Download and install cloudflared
Windows
First, download cloudflared on your machine. Visit the
downloads
page to find the right package for your OS.
Next, rename the executable to cloudflared.exe, and then open PowerShell. Change directory to your Downloads folder and run .\cloudflared.exe --version. It should output the version of cloudflared. Note that cloudflared.exe could be cloudflared-windows-amd64.exe or cloudflared-windows-386.exe if you haven’t renamed it.
Replace the path in the example with the specifics of your Downloads directory:
PS C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\cloudflared-stable-windows-amd64> .\cloudflared.exe --version
macOS
The first step to creating a tunnel is to download and install cloudflared on your machine.
$ brew install cloudflare/cloudflare/cloudflared
Alternatively, you can download the latest Darwin amd64 release directly.
Linux
First, download cloudflared on your machine. Visit the
downloads
page to find the right package for your OS.
Next, install cloudflared.
.deb install
Use the deb package manager to install cloudflared on compatible machines. amd64 / x86-64 is used in this example.
$ wget -q https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb dpkg -i cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb
.rpm install
Use the rpm package manager to install cloudflared on compatible machines. amd64 / x86-64 is used in this example.
$ wget -q https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-x86_64.rpm
Build from source
You can also build the latest version of cloudflared from source with the following steps.
$ git clone https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared.git
$ cd cloudflared
$ make cloudflared
$ go install github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/cmd/cloudflared
Depending on where you installed cloudflared, you can move it to a known path as well.
mv /root/cloudflared/cloudflared /usr/bin/cloudflared
2. Authenticate cloudflared
$ cloudflared tunnel login
Running this command will:
- Open a browser window and prompt you to log into your Cloudflare account. After logging into your account, select your hostname.
- Generate an account certificate, the
cert.pem file
, in the
default
cloudflareddirectory .
3. Create a tunnel and give it a name
$ cloudflared tunnel create <NAME>
Running this command will:
- Create a tunnel by establishing a persistent relationship between the name you provide and a UUID for your tunnel. At this point, no connection is active within the tunnel yet.
- Generate a
tunnel credentials file
in the
default
cloudflareddirectory . - Create a subdomain of
.cfargotunnel.com.
From the output of the command, take note of the tunnel’s UUID and the path to your tunnel’s credentials file.
Confirm that the tunnel has been successfully created by running:
$ cloudflared tunnel list
4. Create a configuration file
Create a
configuration file
in your .cloudflared directory using any text editor. This file will configure the tunnel to route traffic from a given origin to the hostname of your choice.
Add the following fields to the file:
If you are connecting an application
url: http://localhost:8000
tunnel: <Tunnel-UUID>
credentials-file: /root/.cloudflared/<Tunnel-UUID>.json
If you are connecting a network
tunnel: <Tunnel-UUID>
credentials-file: /root/.cloudflared/<Tunnel-UUID>.json
warp-routing:
enabled: true
Confirm that the configuration file has been successfully created by running:
$ cat config.yml
5. Start routing traffic
Now assign a CNAME record that points traffic to your tunnel subdomain.
If you are connecting an application
$ cloudflared tunnel route dns <UUID or NAME> <hostname>
If you are connecting a network
Add the IP/CIDR you would like to be routed through the tunnel.
$ cloudflared tunnel route ip add <IP/CIDR> <UUID or NAME>
You can confirm that the route has been successfully established by running:
$ cloudflared tunnel route ip show
6. Run the tunnel
Run the tunnel to proxy incoming traffic from the tunnel to any number of services running locally on your origin.
$ cloudflared tunnel run <UUID or NAME>
If you want to run the tunnel with a configuration file that is not in the
default directory
, you can use the --config flag and specify a path.
$ cloudflared tunnel --config path/config.yml run
7. Check the tunnel
Your tunnel configuration is complete! If you want to get information on the tunnel you just created, you can run:
$ cloudflared tunnel info