Description

Ensure Always Online is turned off, so that Cloudflare does not serve archived copies of your pages from the Internet Archive when your origin server is unavailable.

Rationale

Always Online can show old copies of pages that were saved by the Internet Archive. These pages may contain outdated, incorrect, or sensitive information that you have since removed, and they are served without your application's current controls. Turning it off makes sure only live content is shown.

Impact

  • Visitors do not see old archived pages

  • Removed or sensitive content is not served from archives

  • Visitors see an error page when the origin is down

Default Value

Always Online may be turned on for some zones.

Pre-Requisites

  • Cloudflare account with Administrator or Cache permissions for the zone

Test Plan

  1. Sign in to the Cloudflare dashboard at https://dash.cloudflare.com.

  2. Select your account and the domain (zone) you want to review.

  3. Go to Caching > Configuration.

  4. Verify that Always Online is turned off.

  5. If it is on, follow the implementation steps.

Implementation Steps

  1. Sign in to the Cloudflare dashboard at https://dash.cloudflare.com.

  2. Select your account and the domain (zone) you want to review.

  3. Go to Caching > Configuration.

  4. Turn off Always Online.

Backout Plan

  1. Sign in to the Cloudflare dashboard at https://dash.cloudflare.com.

  2. Select your account and the domain (zone) you want to review.

  3. Go to Caching > Configuration.

  4. Turn on Always Online.

Reference