Monitoring the CDN edge vs. the origin server — which URL do I point at?

Monitoring the CDN edge vs. the origin server — which URL do I point at?

Q: I'm behind Cloudflare. Should I monitor my public domain or the origin directly?

A: Both, and they tell you different things. Monitoring the public domain (the edge) reflects what users actually get — but a healthy edge can serve cached pages while your origin is on fire, so it can mask a backend outage for a while.

Monitoring the origin directly (by IP or an unproxied subdomain) tells you whether your real server is alive, independent of the CDN's caching.

The useful setup: edge check for user-facing truth, origin check for early warning. When the origin check fails but the edge is still green, you've got a head start before the cache expires and visitors start seeing errors. Lock down the origin endpoint so only your monitor can reach it — an exposed unproxied origin invites attackers straight past your CDN's protection.

Got a question? Drop it in the comments.