How to configure CDN access for Magento

How to use your Client Portal to configure your CDN service for use with your Magento 1 store.

Considering Use of a CDN

Many businesspeople wonder How Does a CDN Work to Speed Up Your Ecommerce Site? but they will discover that the reasons are remarkably straightforward. Review the content, resources, and links in this article to learn more about those reasons in full detail.  

What you need

• An active CDN service with Nexcess. To order a Nexcess service plan, visit our website.
  
  
• A functioning Magento store on your Nexcess server.
  
  
• Your Client Portal username and password. If you cannot locate this information, click the Reset Password link on the Client Portal login menu or contact our support team.

Exception about media assets

Media assets like JPG, MP3, MP4, and so on, are already compressed and do not benefit from additional compression. Therefore, it is recommended you do not enable compression on these asset types.

Method

This procedure addresses Magento 1.x. For Magento 2, see How to configure CDN access for Magento 2.

 Explore Nexcess CDN services.

1: Access the CDN control panel

1. If you have not already done so, purchase a Nexcess CDN plan or use a Magento hosting plan that comes with CDN access. If you plan already includes a CDN but you do not see one listed, contact our support team for assistance.
   
   
2. Log in to the Client Portal. From the dashboard, click Services > Other.
3. Locate the relevant CDN service. From the menu toggle, followed by CDN Control Panel.
   
4. If prompted, choose your preferred language.

2: Configure large HTTP delivery 

Attention: You must enable CDN compression as instructed below for both the HTTP large and HTTP small delivery methods to fully utilize the CDN’s compression utility.

1. Select HTTP Large > Customer Origin.
   
2. In the Directory Name field, enter your preferred name, such as “magento”.
   
   
3. In the Hostname or IP Address field, type the web address (URL) of your store; for example, store.nexcess.net.
   
   
   
4. Near the Hostname or IP Address field, click Add.

   

5. On the lower right in the HTTP Large Object Customer Origins control panel, click Add.

   

6. Setup for your large HTTP delivery is now complete. Proceed to the “Configure small HTTP delivery” section.

   

3: Configure small HTTP delivery

1. 
   

   Select HTTP Small > Customer Origin.
   
   

2. In the Directory Name field, enter your preferred name, such as “magento”.
   
   
3. In the Hostname or IP Address field, type the URL of your store; for example, store.nexcess.net.

   

4. Near the Hostname or IP Address field, click Add.

   

5. On the lower right in the HTTP Small Object Customer Origins control panel, click Add.

   

6. Setup for your small HTTP delivery is now complete. After waiting about one hour to give the CDN service time to cache your data, proceed to the “Verify settings” section.

   

4: Verify settings

ATTENTION: Allow the CDN service at least one hour to cache your data before you attempt to verify the new settings as outlined below.

To verify both large and small customer origins, use the URLs provided in the Customer Origin panel and append destinations specific to Magento:

1. To test the small HTTP customer origin:
   1. Locate your store’s URL in the HTTP Small Object Customer Origins control panel.
      
   2. Append /js/mage/cookies.js to your store’s URL. From the example URL shown above, the appended URL would read: http://smhttp.42588.nexcesscdn.net/8016fc0/magento/js/mage/cookies.js
      
      
   3. Enter the appended URL into your web browser. If the page loads, your assets have successfully propagated to the CDN and you may proceed to Step 2. If you have already completed Step 2, proceed to the next section.
      
      
2. To test the large HTTP customer origin, repeat Step 1 from the HTTP Large Object Customer Origins Panel.
   

5: Update your Magento installation

1. Update your Magento install to use the new large and small origin URLs by selecting System > Configuration > Web > Unsecure.
   
   
2. Click Current Configuration Scope and select your website.
   
   
3. In the Base Skin URL field, enter the small origin URL you created in the “Configure small HTTP delivery” section, Step 6 (see below image).
   
   
4. In the Base Media URL field, enter large origin URL you created in the “Configure large HTTP delivery” section, Step 6 (see below image).
   
   
5. Edit the Base JavaScript URL by entering the small origin URL into that field.
   
   
   
6. Click Save Config.

6: Purge the CDN cache

Follow the procedure given in How to purge the CDN cache.

7: Activate CDN compression

Follow the procedure provided in How to activate CDN compression.


For 24-hour assistance any day of the year, contact our support team by email or through your Client Portal.