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This section enables you to redirect part of your traffic (media image and video files, for instance) to other servers under your control, through other domains or sub-domains – most often, the files are hosted on a CDN (Content Delivery Network). By default, PrestaShop supports up to 3 media servers.
Putting your store's domain name in those fields is not the proper way to get fantastic performance. That being said, it is easy to set up a media server, and the benefits are real and almost immediate. Here is how:
- Open an account at a new host, preferably one who is specialist of distributed content. The most popular are Akamai (http://www.akamai.com/), Amazon (with its AWS services, among which is CloudFront: http://aws.amazon.com/) or CloudFlare (http://www.cloudflare.com/). You should also ask your own host, maybe it has a CDN service you can subscribe to.
- Copy your media files to that host's server. This means that the CDN server must contain an exact copy of the following folders from you store's main server:
/img
,/themes
et/modules
.
Reminder: you must make it so that these folders are always synchronized: even if you you add new products or change your theme, the CDN server must contain the latest version of all these files. - Once the CDN server is in place, add the web address (as given by your CDN host) in the first field, "Media server #1". If that host allows for more web addresses, add them.
In case you would rather that your files are still visually downloaded from your domain name rather that from an unknown domain name, follow this process:
- Create a subdomain for your store's domain name, for instance
http://cdn1.mystore.com
(the way to do that depend on your host, ask him about it). Put a
.htaccess
file at the root of the subdomain. That file should contain a single line:Code Block Redirect Permanent / http://cdn-adresse.com
Replace thehttp://cdn-
with the one from your CDN server. This way, you are creating an automatic redirection from your subdomain to your CDN server.adresse
.com- Once the subdomain is in place, add it in the first field, "Media server #1". If that host allows for more web addresses, create as many subdomains to your store's main domain name.
Cyphering
Cyphering means encrypting data so as to render it unreadable to unwanted eyes. Your costumers' account details, as well as your own, are protected by cyphering.
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