Set up your first tunnel

When setting up your first Cloudflare Tunnel, you have the option to create it:

• Remotely on the Zero Trust dashboard
• Locally, using your CLI

​​ Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you:

• Add a website to Cloudflare.
• Change your domain nameservers to Cloudflare Open external link .

​​ Set up a tunnel remotely (Dashboard setup)

Follow this step-by-step guide to get your first tunnel up and running using the Zero Trust dashboard.

​​ 1. Create a tunnel

1. Log in to the Zero Trust dashboard Open external link and navigate to Access > Tunnels.

2. Click Create a tunnel.

3. Enter a name for your tunnel. We suggest choosing a name that reflects the type of resources you want to connect through this tunnel (for example, enterprise-VPC-01).

4. Click Save tunnel.

5. Next, you will need to install cloudflared and run it. To do so, check that the environment under Choose an environment reflects the operating system on your machine, then copy the command in the box below and paste it into a terminal window. Run the command.

6. Once the command has finished running, your connector will appear on the Zero Trust dashboard.

   

7. Click Next.

The next steps depend on whether you want to connect an application or connect a network.

​​ 2. Connect an application

Follow these steps to connect an application through your tunnel. If you are looking to connect a network, skip to the Connect a network section.

1. In the Public Hostnames tab, select an application from the drop-down menu and specify any subdomain or path information.

2. Specify a service, for example https://localhost:8000.

3. Under Additional application settings, specify any parameters you would like to add to your tunnel configuration.

4. Click Save <tunnel-name>.

​​ 3. Connect a network

Follow these steps to connect a private network through your tunnel.

1. In the Private Networks tab, add an IP or CIDR.

2. Click Save <tunnel-name>.

​​ 4. View your tunnel

Once you click Save <tunnel-name>, you will be redirected to the Tunnels page. Look for your new tunnel to be listed along with its active connector.

​​ Set up a tunnel locally (CLI setup)

Follow this step-by-step guide to get your first tunnel up and running using the CLI.

​​ 1. Download and install cloudflared

PS C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\cloudflared-stable-windows-amd64> .\cloudflared.exe --version

$ brew install cloudflare/cloudflare/cloudflared

$ wget -q https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb && dpkg -i cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb

$ wget -q https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-x86_64.rpm

$ git clone https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared.git
$ cd cloudflared
$ make cloudflared
$ go install github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/cmd/cloudflared

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 in to your Cloudflare account. After logging in to your account, select your hostname.
• Generate an account certificate, the cert.pem file, in the default cloudflared directory.

​​ 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 cloudflared directory.
• 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 your configuration file has a custom name or is not in the .cloudflared directory, add the --config flag and specify the path.

$ cloudflared tunnel --config /path/your-config-file.yaml 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