FAQs

What is a Pull Zone?

A Pull Zone is what is needed to utilize the HTTP Caching type of CDN. The name Pull Zone came from the technique used, as we “Pull” the static assets from your website to cache it and serve it from our CDN Network.
Pull Zones are simple to set up and use. It takes 1 minute or less to create a Pull Zone, and depending on your website, the steps necessary to implement the CDN on your website, will vary.

Is a Pull Zone right for me?

Pull Zones are ideal to serve small-size static assets for websites. That includes stylesheets (.css), images, JavaScript files, text files, and small PDFs.

Can I use a Pull Zone with Amazon Web Services such as S3, CloudFront, and Amazon Elastic Load Balancer?

Yes! Pull Zones are designed to work with any publicly available web server or storage network. If your files are reachable via normal HTTP requests, a Pull Zone can work. (Our CDN can also be configured to work with HTTPS websites)

Are Pull Zones provisioned in all the CDN network locations in real-time?

Yes, the Pull Zone setup configuration in the CDN Control Panel is designed to create and provision zones immediately in real-time.

How do I create a Pull Zone?

Please refer to our Pull Zone Creation Tutorial, here

What is the Origin URL?

The “Origin” is the destination on which your static assets are hosted/located, and from which we will pull and cache your files.
The Origin URL can be your domain name, your S3/CloudFront Bucket URL, your Rackspace Cloud Files URL, or any publicly accessible URL

Can you pull contents from a password-protected directory?

No, unless the contents are publicly available, we cannot pull them.

How frequently do cached files expire?

The default TTL (time to live) is 24 hours from the time when the file is initially cached. However, if the files are given an expiry header on the (Origin) server on which they are hosted, using .htaccess or httpd.conf for example, we will honor the expiry header.

Do you honor headers appended to contents on the origin server such as Cache Control?

Yes, we do. We will cache the file as it is, with all its headers.

Do you use any cache enhancement mechanisms?

Yes, we utilize Memcached.

What kind of web server do you run?

We use NginX to serve our CDN cached content.

Will you support .htaccess or its equivalent on the Pull Zone?

Unfortunately we are not currently able to support custom .htaccess on our Pull Zones.

What is a Custom CDN Domain?

A custom CDN Domain is a CName that points to our netdna-cdn.com branded CDN URL. It can be something like:
CName —–> CDN temp URL
cdn.yourdomain.com zonename.company.netdna-cdn.com

How can I create and use a Custom CDN (CNAME) Domain to serve my CDN content?

First, add the Custom Domain (CName) to the Pull Zone configuration under the “Settings“ tab inside the CDN Control Panel.
Second, create a CNAME DNS record that points to our temporary CDN URL. **Note: It is important to create a CName, NOT a subdomain. More details can be found here.

What is the Temporary CDN URL?

It is the URL that will be automatically created when you create a Zone. It is called “temporary” because most clients use it temporarily until they have created a CNAME to use on their website (explained above). However, you are free to always use the temporary URL (the CDN temp URL will not expire unless the zone or account is deleted).

Do you allow blocking certain countries or IP blocks from downloading/viewing my files?

Yes we do. However, it’s not available by default but, only with a feature called “EdgeRules” which you can use to customize the way your CDN cache is handling different requests. This would be the example.

Do you support Secure Tokens for Pull Zones, like S3?

We do. However, this is a feature available on the MaxCDN Enterprise platform.

Can I serve my entire website on a Pull Zone?

You can and this setup is exclusive to the MaxCDN Enterprise platform.

Can I override the default cache expiry time?

Yes. You can do that under the “Advanced Settings” tab in the CDN Control Panel, which is visible when you are managing your zone. Alternatively, you can set an expiry header on your origin server.

How do I set a custom expiry header on my Apache server?

Please refer to our Custom Expiry Headers tutorial.

I’m using the Amazon Elastic (EC2) Load Balancing; Can I still use it after I switch to your service?

Yes, Pull Zones are designed to accommodate load balancers. **Note: You would need to disable Origin IP Resolution for us to query DNS in order get correct origin IP address.

I’m using CloudFlare, can I combine that with your CDN Service?

Yes, you can. Please refer to our tutorial on working with a CDN and CloudFlare

Is it possible to strip/override Cache Control Headers appended to my static assets on the Origin Server?

Yes, our Control Panel has an option that allows you to strip all headers, the option can be found under “Advanced Settings”.

What are supported CMS platforms?

There are supported plugins for most popular CMS (Content Management Systems), and many others. Search the Getting Started Guide for more information.

What if my website is custom made using PHP/ASP/Ruby etc…?

In such case, the only way to integrate CDN functionality is by using Custom Integration

My website uses an SSL certificate? Does your CDN support that?

Yes. We provide Custom SSL hosting services. This can be purchased through the Control Panel and will allow you to use SSL on your own CName. We also offer SNI and a free shared SSL certificate, which provides you a temporary CDN URL with HTTPS support.

Can I use .htaccess or its equivalent for NginX or IIS to integrate CDN into my website?

No, you can’t. Technically, you can forward all your requests for static assets to the CDN URL for each one. However, doing that will simply beat the purpose of using CDN as all requests will still go to your web server before forwarding to the CDN. This will not deliver the performance results you should expect from using the CDN solely, as it adds unnecessary hops between the request and content retrieval. It will also negatively affect your page load speed, SEO and Page Rank since redirects will slow your website down.

Google is crawling the CDN URL and I now have duplicate content, what can I do to prevent that?

Find out more on this page.

Is there a specific UserAgent that will identify traffic coming from your network?

We pass on the client’s UserAgent rather than our own, so there is no “special” MaxCDN UserAgent based identification.
However, if you need to filter traffic coming from our servers, contact our support team to get a list of subnets to use for filtering traffic.

Can your CDN keep my website online if my web server goes down?

Our CDN will keep serving all static content that is directly requested, but if your Origin is unreachable, we will not be able to keep the website up, since that is not being served from our network. However, you could use “Use Stale” option that should continue serving your content even if origin server is down.

When should I use the “Purge” option and is it good to purge CDN cache frequently?

Purge is designed to flush your CDN cache in order to re-cache file(s) from your origin and as such you should use it only when you have updates on your server that needs to be pushed to CDN and these changes are edits of EXISTING files, new files don’t require purging. Frequent purging is not recommended, because it will take additional time for cache to re-build each time you flush it. Remember, more purges = slower speed = bad performance.

Am I going to be charged for usage of storage space as well?

No, Pull Zones use caching space which is dynamically allocated and we don’t charge you for usage of it. Only bandwidth is charged according to our pricing table, but not storage.

How do you add domain.com on a pull zone (not www.domain.com)?

You can add it in your custom domains list under zone settings.
Just note that you’ll be pointing it on your DNS side to our IP because you can’t have first-level domains used as CNAMEs. For this reason, if you’re pointing your domain.com to us and we change our IP, things will get messed up. Our IP can change for many reasons, too (installing dedicated ssl, moving your zone for any reason, etc.).
For these reasons, take EVERY precaution if you decide to add such domains.

What is a Push Zone?

A Push Zone is a zone where the user uploads files directly, like you would with a regular hosting account. The zone is then synced out to edge locations. Push Zones are used for distributing files larger than 10MB, or for files that rarely change (such as PDF’s, Word documents, image galleries, etc.)

When do I want to use a Push Zone?

If you are distributing large files – like software updates, file archives, large CAD files, etc.

Are Push Zones provisioned in real-time?

Yes, as you create a Push Zone, the control panel will contact the edge servers and provision your account on each edge.

How often do Push Zones get synced to edges?

Push Zones get synced to the edges every 1 to 2 hours, however the entire sync process may take 24 to 48 hours, depending on the number and the size of your files. The determining factor is the size of the files (larger files take longer to push out).

How do I access my Push Zone?

You upload to your Push Zone via a protocol called SFTP, which connects via secure shell. An SFTP client is needed to upload.

Why do you use use SFTP vs. FTP?

The integrity and security of your files is a huge priority when using a CDN. SFTP is a secure and encrypted protocol, which maximizes security and integrity over FTP.

What are some good SFTP clients?

Windows -> WinSCP – http://winscp.net, FileZilla – cross platform Mac -> Cyberduck – http://cyberduck.ch Unix -> scp

Is there a file size limit on Push Zones?

There are no hard limits on the file size for Push Zones.

How do I change the password on my Push Zone?

Log into the Control Panel. On the Dashboard choose the Push Zone you want to edit and click “manage”. Click on “edit” and change your password, then click “update”. Detailed instructions can be found here.

Do I use Push Zone for pseudo video streaming?

No, you use a VOD Zone for pseudo streaming.

How/when do I receive my SFTP login? And what is the SFTP hostname I use?

When you create a “VOD Zone” or a “Push Zone”, you will find a button saying “How to connect” in the Zone Manager section of your Control Panel. Click on that button for detailed connection information and check out our support article as well.

Can I host my HTML files on a Push Zone?

Yes, you can, but please note that we do not support any server-side scripting over our servers (PHP, MySQL etc.)

Can I use a custom robots.txt a Push Zone?

Yes, you can. Create your robots.txt and upload it to the Push Zone. It will be effective immediately on each edge, as it is pushed with the regular synchronization process.

Where do I upload my files in a Push Zone?

You need to upload all your files to the “public_html” directory of your Push Zone.

What is a VOD Zone?

A VOD (Video on Demand) Zone is a Content Zone that allows for direct upload of video files to our media storage server via FTP or SFTP.

When do I want to use a VOD Zone?

To distribute video that has been pre-recorded.

Are VOD Zones provisioned in real-time?

Yes, as you create a secure or non-secure zone from within the Manage Zones -> VOD Zones management screen in the Control Panel, the storage upload zone as well as all DNS records get provisioned in real-time and usually takes less then 3 minutes.

How do I access my VOD Zone?

We give each zone the ability to access the storage location by FTP or SFTP using regular computer software, or by using an online encoding service which uses ftp://username:password@storage_hostname for its connection file path.
On VOD Zone creation all customers will be given instructions to connect to a hostname URL, for example:

URL: ftp.zonename.alias.netdna-cdn.com
Username: zonename.alias
Password: Randomly generated on zone creation
The password can be updated at anytime through the zone management screen inside the Control Panel. More details can be found here.

What are some good SFTP Clients?

Windows -> WinSCP – http://winscp.net Mac -> Cyberduck – http://cyberduck.ch Unix -> scp

Why do you use SFTP vs. FTP?

The integrity and security of your files is a huge priority when using a CDN. SFTP is a secure and encrypted protocol which maximizes security and integrity over FTP.

What is the difference between RTMP and Pseudo Streaming?

RTMP is a real-time streaming protocol. Video packet size is smaller and delivered to end-user as consumed.
More secure than HTTP. Video streams have less of a chance to be “stolen”.
If people replay the video, the traffic is consumed again since it’s not in memory.
Video is unwatchable if a user’s bandwidth is lower than the bitrate of the stream
HTTP Psuedo Streaming
Simple, reliable and lightweight. Used by YouTube ®. Good if your videos are shorter than 10 minutes.
Once the video has been viewed, it is cached into the browser’s memory, and does not need to be downloaded on the next view.
On slow connections people can wait until a sufficient part of the stream is downloaded, and then hit the play button. When used with a Flash player the video can be buffered before it starts to play.
HTTP progressive streaming is also called “pseudo streaming”, because it’s not a real-time streaming protocol. Pseudo streaming CDN URLs can be loaded directly into a browser window.
Features shared by both RTMP and Psuedo Streaming
Rich in features. Support for slow motion, fast forward and bandwidth switching during playback.
A file uploaded to a normal VOD Zone can be played in both formats simultaneously depending on encoding.

What formats can I deliver the video in?

Wowza Media Server 2 supports the following media file formats: FLV (Flash Video), MP4 (QuickTime container) and MP3 content (see table below for common file extensions). To play video on demand content, the proper prefix must be appended to the file name to create a stream name. For example to play the MP4 file *mycoolvideo.mov{*}use the stream name *mp4:mycoolvideo.mov*. The following table lists the more common file type prefixes (for a complete list consult the User’s Guide):

flv:FLV (Flash Video – this is the default media type so the qualifier and the file extension can be omitted)
Example: “flv:mycoolvideo.flv”
mp4:MP4 (QuickTime container – .mp4, .f4v, .mov, .m4v, .mp4a, .3gp, and .3g2)
Example: “mp4:mycoolvideo.mov”
mp3:MP3 (.mp3)
Example: “mp3:mycoolsong.mp3″
smil: SMIL (XML files used to configure multi-bitrate streams – .smil)

Is Flowplayer supported?

Yes. Flowplayer is a partner of ours and we are their CDN provider as well.

Is JWPlayer supported?

Yes. all versions of JWPlayer are fully supported on our system.

Do you support referrer checking to minimize content leeching?

HTTP referrer protection is not supported for our VOD zones, however, if security is important to you, we encourage you to not consider referrer checking, but rather RTMP streaming.

What do you use on the server side (web server) for VOD?

VOD Zones support both HTTP pseudo streaming and RTMP out of the box. All of our servers use only the most stable release.
For HTTP pseudo (progressive download) streaming we use Lighthttpd.
For RTMP we use Wowza Media Server 2.X.

Can I insert pre-roll or post-roll ads into my video?

Yes. We recommend using FlowPlayer and OpenX if you do not currently have a solution.

Can I deliver videos to iPhones/iPods?

Yes. We can stream through HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) to all iOS devices by using a .m3u8 playlist wrapper for VOD files and Live Zone feeds. Compatibility will depend on the correct encoding format of your video and audio.

Do you support Quicktime and Silverlight?

Yes. We can support streaming through Silverlight for VOD to most Silverlight video players. Compatibility will depend on the correct encoding format of your video and audio.

Is multiple bitrate streaming supported?

Yes. While our media server can’t do on the fly transcoding of a file to split a single file into different bitrates; a user can upload multiple versions of a VOD file to our media storage server for their VOD Zone or send multiple published streams to their Live Zone.

How can I setup rsync to upload files to my VOD Zone?

Rsync is no longer supported, we now allow LFTP.

How can I setup LFTP to upload/synchronize files to my VOD zone?

Please refer to our “LFTP How To“ article for more information.

My mp4 files will not play in RTMP, what is wrong?

Nothing is wrong. When using RTMP, for any file other then FLV you need to prefix the video URL “vod/zonename_alias/filename” with the file extension, for example “mp4:vod/netdna.company/myvideo.mp4″. The same technique works for other extensions.
Another reason why an mp4 file will work on our HTTP progressive download (pseudo streaming) servers and not our RTMP media servers would be due to video encoding. In general mp4 files need to be encoded in h.264 video, and use AAC audio. They must also have keyframes of no less then 2 seconds/60 frames applied in encoding (most common reason for a file not to play). There also can’t be any fragmented mp4 encoding applied to the file as we can’t support this type of file encoding yet.
If you can use RTMP for the test file on Video Debug tool, then all is fine. Remember we also make RTMPTE (ex. rtmpt://r.zonename.alias.netdna-cdn.com/play) available for use to get through corporate firewalls that might block RTMP’s standard 1935 port.

How do I create a secure token (video)?

We do not support secure tokens on VOD zones.

What is your maximum bitrate for streaming?

We don’t limit the maximum bitrate that can be allowed on a VOD file. However, we do recommend that the file be no greater then 700kbps as most end-users with slower connections will not be able to download the bitrate chunk for a bitrate higher then this. Most ISPs will also limit video streaming download speeds for their end-users connections as well. Bitrate levels go as follows; low = 300kbps or below, medium (web quality) = 500Kbps and High Definition (Web quality) = 700kbps, TV High Definition = 1000kbps+.

What are EdgeRules?

EdgeRules is a feature that allows you to modify the behavior of MaxCDN edge servers. With EdgeRules, you can change how your caches act in terms of functionality by modifying headers and creating certain filers. Essentially, EdgeRules is the bridge between you and your custom content delivery solution.

How many rules can I create?

There are 4 types of matching types, “default”, “regex”, “literal” and “exact,” meaning you can create 4 rules. However, within each rule you can have numerous repeated directives, which means you can have a limitless combination of directives used for same cache location.

Can I use EdgeRules to cache dynamic content?

No. Dynamic content (such as php) is not enforced on edge servers. However, you can always cache the result/output of a php file generated on the origin side.
For example, consider index.php in the root of any site. When you request it, the web server generates html output based on it’s code. And since html is static, it’s the perfect candidate for caching. So in a way, you can cache dynamic content, but only if the output is static.

Can I control EdgeRules with API?

As of now, no. But it’s in the evaluation process so you can expect to be able to soon.

Why does EdgeRules create a duplicate that my vhost blocks?

Each edge rule creates new rules for how each edge will treat certain requests and handle different content. As such, it needs to honor cases where rules doesn’t apply. This is why a default config block needs to be copied and rules created in EdgeRules need to be added in it.
Note that every rule creates new NGINX config “location” under which it’ll be active.

Can I manage HTTP referrer with EdgeRules?

Yes. Learn more here: http://support.maxcdn.com/allow-blank-referrer/

What are the most popular EdgeRules recipes?

Add CORS Header (webfonts)

Force SSL

Redirect by User Agent (Mobile Site)

Redirect by Country

XSS Protection

My origin is not giving me control over headers. Can I control these on CDN side?

Yes. Use EdgeRules and any directives that control header set: add, hide, ignore, modify and modify request headers.

What libraries and languages are available?

We offer SDKs for Python, PHP, Ruby, Node.js, .NET and Go.

Are there examples?

Yes. In MaxCDN One, you can view examples by selecting the API tag.

How does a pull zone cache from my origin server?

A pull zone works as a “reverse proxy” that forwards any file request to your origin that the cache doesn’t have on it. The response from your origin is cached and delivered to the end user. Any other request for the cached file is served from the edge and our servers won’t “poke” your origin again (until the file expires or it gets purged).
We do not use tools to access origin like wget. Instead we pass back the request to origin via streamed tcp (look under nginx proxy_pass directive).

Are all of my files cached?

Not necessarily. Our edge servers cache what’s been asked from them.
This means that if you have files that were never requested by them, those files remain uncached. Also, some files that are pulled from us may not be cached due to headers defining cache activity (CCH – max-age)

Are my files cached automatically?

No. We need to get a request for certain file before we try to cache it at all.
For example, if you have 10,000 files on your origin but only use two files on your CDN, we’ll only cache those two.

Are my files cached on ALL MaxCDN edges?

Your files are only cached on locations where you have actual visitors from.
For example, if you only have visitors from EU and not the US and Asia, only our edges in Europe will hold your content – cached.

How long is my content cached?

If no cache control headers (CCHs) are sent from your origin to us, we’ll apply the default rule set under “Default Cache Time”, otherwise we’ll honour your origin’s CCH.
Keep in mind that the “Override CCH” option DOES NOT define CDN cache time, rather browser cache time.

How can MaxCDN secure my website and content?

Depending on your specific case, different features make more sense than others.
With that said, what we can offer are secure links and tokens, http referrer, and EdgeRules managed authentication. Of course this is completely custom and can’t be described without an actual example.

How do secure tokens work?

First, let’s make the distinction between tokens and secure links.
Tokens are used in process of generating secure links. In this process, we get a request uri, the time for which link will be valid, a shared secret (aka token, as defined in your control panel), and then get a link with a validity indicator and secure token string.
Take this made-up file for example: “/file/path.ext?st=yyyyyyyyyyyyy&e=xxxxxxx”. Only users with that link can properly and accurately access you cdn assets. Other people get a 403.
Note: If the secure link expires, the response we generate is a 410, meaning it’s gone.

Do you have examples of secure tokens?

Yes. You can find them here: http://support.maxcdn.com/pull-zone-security/

Can HTTPS and secure tokens be used for VOD?

No. Currently we do not support any type of VOD security.

What is an HTTP referrer?

Similar to hotlinking protection, http referrer allows you to define which referrers (source domains) are allowed to access your cdn asssets. Other referrers get a 403 error.

Can I blacklist domains in HTTP referrer?

Yes. You can do this with EdgeRules.

Can I set blank referrers to be allowed?

Yes. You can do this with EdgeRules: http://support.maxcdn.com/allow-blank-referrer/
Note: Even though we enforce “white list” http referrer protection, anything outside the focus of white list can be still be defined separately.

What is the 30-Day Money Back Guarantee and Refund Policy?

If you cancel your account within 30 days of your signup date, you get a full refund on the basic package you signed up for. Once the account is cancelled, the refund process automatically begins and is typically completed within 24-48 hours from the time of cancellation. Add-ons, additional bandwidth, and renewal charges are not covered by this guarantee.

Why is my signup order showing an error?

You need to make sure that the billing address you enter is the same as the billing address attached to your credit card. Also, to prevent fraud, our order form calculates the IP distance, or the distance of the billing address from the IP address from where you are placing the order. Therefore, you need to order within the area of the credit card billing address in order to validate your order.

Why am I receiving a ‘try again later’ message in the order form?

If you’re ordering MaxCDN from China, Vietnam, Ghana or Indonesia, you will receive the following error message: “Our order form detected an error with your network. Please try again later.” You’re receiving this error because you’re signing up from a country IP that we currently don’t accept orders from. The only way to continue is to ask a colleague to purchase MaxCDN for you from a different location.

How do I cancel add-ons or orders?

To cancel add-ons, email us at [email protected] from your registered email address. Our billing team will process your request.

How do I change the ALIAS that automatically appears in my Temporary CDN URL?

The ALIAS in your account is automatically generated during signup using the COMPANY NAME you inputted. This is permanent. If you don’t wish to use a custom domain (cdn.domain.com to CNAME your Temporary CDN URL), the only way to change the ALIAS for now is to create a new account using your desired COMPANY NAME. If you want to use the same email address, you need to email us at [email protected] or contact us via chat so we can modify the email address on file since you cannot create a new account with the same email address.

How can I upgrade or downgrade my plan?

If you are not covered by a contract with our contracted rates, you can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time by emailing us at [email protected] from your registered email address. Our billing team will process your request.

How do I change my payment method?

Your payment method defaults to the one you used during signup. If you plan to switch from PayPal to credit card, or vice-versa, just email us at [email protected] from your registered email address. Our billing team will process your request.

How do I update my credit card information?

First you need to make sure that your payment method is set to CREDIT CARD. Email us at [email protected] if you want to switch your payment method to CREDIT CARD (if you’re currently using PayPal, for instance). Then you can update your credit card information by going to your control panel. When you are there, go to Account -> Settings.

Can I set up automatic payments with PayPal?

Of course! We call this payment method “PayPal Billing Arrangements.” You just need to set it up once and your invoices will automatically be paid using your desired PayPal account. Just email us at [email protected] from your registered email address and our billing team will help you set it up.

What are considered overages and how do I get charged for them?

Overages are gigabytes of bandwidth used outside of your designated package. If you go over your plan, your account does not get suspended. Instead, you are billed with overages. Overages are billed in 1TB increments and are usable for one year. If you are constantly being charged overages, you may want to consider upgrading your plan.

How do I switch from a monthly to annual plan?

If you are not covered by a contract with our annual rates, you can switch from a monthly to annual plan at any time. Just email us at [email protected] from your registered email address and our billing team will process your request.

Are annual purchases refundable?

If you cancel your account within 30 days from your signup date, your annual purchase on the basic package is refundable. If you cancel after the initial 30 days, you are not eligible for a refund. All add-ons, additional bandwidth, and renewal charges are not refundable at any time.

Can I temporarily freeze my account?

Currently there is no mechanism to freeze an account to avoid being charged according to your billing cycle. The only way to stop the billing charges is to cancel the account. If you choose to do this, just email us at [email protected] when you are ready to resume. We can reactivate your account. However, reactivating your account means you’ll need to set up zones again.

How do I cancel or terminate my account?

Log in to your control panel, then go to Account -> Settings. At the bottom of the page, there is a “Cancel Account” button.