Personal Blog Build Journey

This is my real build log from 0 to 1. It is not an idealized guide. It is a practical timeline with actual mistakes, root causes, and fixes.

Main Build Routes

Route A: No-Server Route

Good for beginners and lightweight personal sites.

Typical stack:

GitHub Pages + Hugo / Hexo
Very low cost, often close to zero
No server maintenance

Official links:

Route B: Traditional Server Route

Good for full control and future expansion.

Typical stack:

Buy cloud server + domain
Deploy static site with Nginx, or use WordPress/Typecho

Official links:

I chose Route B because I had already purchased a one-year server and did not want to waste it.

My Actual Setup

Server: Huawei Cloud ECS (already purchased)
Domain: xedczq.cn from Alibaba Cloud
Site type: Static blog (generated by Hugo, served by Nginx)

Official links:

My initial decision was simple:

Reuse existing server (save money)
Buy the cheapest domain option (save money)

Those decisions were valid, but they increased filing and network complexity.

Domain Purchase and DNS

After buying xedczq.cn, I immediately pointed DNS to my Huawei Cloud server IP for public access testing.

My minimum checklist here:

nslookup domain resolves to the target IP
Server service is actually listening on public ports (80/443)
Security group and firewall allow required ports

ICP Filing

My first major blocker was ICP filing.

When ICP Filing Is Usually Required

Common case:

Server is in mainland China
Domain provides internet information services in mainland China

Common case where ICP is usually not required:

Server is outside mainland China (HK/overseas)
Service targets overseas access

Official filing portal:

MIIT ICP Filing System

I decided not to move to an overseas server, so I completed the full filing process, which took about 10 days.

Issue: Works Without VPN, Fails With VPN

After filing, I hit the second problem:

Works without VPN
Fails with VPN

In practice, this usually involves routing differences across DNS/proxy/region paths instead of one single bug. I then tried Cloudflare for unified DNS and traffic handling.

Cloudflare Domain Onboarding

I moved the domain to Cloudflare.

Official links:

Main advantages:

Global Anycast network
Fast DNS propagation and good observability
Optional CDN/WAF/basic protection
Flexible DNS-only (gray cloud) vs proxy mode (orange cloud)

Pitfall I Hit

I enabled orange-cloud proxy first, and the site became inaccessible.

Root cause pattern:

In proxy mode, requests first reach Cloudflare edge, then return to origin server
If origin TLS mode, return path, source policy, or filing access conditions are not aligned, access breaks

Domain Access Filing at Provider Side

After Cloudflare onboarding, I hit another requirement around provider-side domain access filing.

My fix:

Temporarily switch to DNS-only (gray cloud)
Complete access filing on Huawei Cloud
Wait for approval (about 4 days in my case)

After this, access stability returned.

HTTPS Launch

Final step: issue and deploy a free TLS certificate on the server, then enforce HTTP -> HTTPS redirect.

Official link:

Let’s Encrypt

At this point, the blog was fully online.

My Timeline

Domain purchase + first DNS test: same day
ICP filing: ~10 days
Cloudflare onboarding + troubleshooting: 1–2 days
Domain access filing: ~4 days
HTTPS deployment: same day

Final Notes

If I only wanted the fastest launch, I would use the no-server route. If I want long-term control and extensibility, server route is worth it, but I must accept:

Filing is mostly a time cost, not a pure technical cost
DNS and proxy issues are network-engineering issues, not one-command issues
Certificates, return path, and access policy must be debugged together

My biggest gain was not just launching a blog, but understanding the full chain of domain, DNS, filing, proxy, and origin routing.