Loading Assets

Content can be loaded on to our network. A request to load content will cache the content in question across our entire network or within specific regions. This concept is also known as pre-caching.

The benefits of loading content are:

• Reduces server and network load on your customer origin server.
• Ensures optimal content delivery to your users.

Loading content is most effective when it deals with a large event or content that becomes simultaneously available to a large volume of users (e.g., a new movie release or a software update).

Key information:

• By default, content is cached as it is requested. This means that the first and/or second request from each region may take a little bit longer, since our edge servers will not have the content in cache and therefore will need to forward the request to the origin server. Loading content avoids this first/second hit latency.

• An assetA file is the most commonly known example of an asset. Refers to any collection of data that is typically stored as a single unit on a storage unit (e.g., disk drive). An example of an asset that is not physically stored on a disk drive occurs when dynamically generated content is not cached. only needs to be loaded a single time for each unique combination of the following criteria:

  • URI Scheme: Content will only be cached for the specified URI scheme (i.e., http or https).

    Use bulk load to specify a URL that uses the https URI scheme.

    If you would like to load content for both HTTP and HTTPS requests, then you will need to submit a load request for each URI scheme.

  • Platform: A platform must be selected prior to loading content. The specified content will only be cached for that platform.

  • Directory: A URL must be specified when loading content. This URL identifies the directory where the content to be loaded is stored.

    Loading affects all CDN and edge CNAME URLs that point to the same assetA file is the most commonly known example of an asset. Refers to any collection of data that is typically stored as a single unit on a storage unit (e.g., disk drive). An example of an asset that is not physically stored on a disk drive occurs when dynamically generated content is not cached..

    View example.

    This example assumes the following setup:

    Edge CNAME	Points To
    cdn.mydomain.com	Customer Origin: myorigin Relative Path: /
    sales.mydomain.com	Customer Origin: myorigin Relative Path: /sales

    Loading any of the following URLs will cache "brochure.pdf":

    http://cdn.mydomain.com/sales/brochure.pdf

    http://sales.mydomain.com/brochure.pdf

    http://wpc.0001Represents your customer account number..edgecastcdn.net/800001Represents your customer account number./myorigin/sales/brochure.pdf

  • Region: Loading by region is an advanced option that should only be used to address specialized cache management needs. It allows the selection of one or more regions when loading content. The asset in question will only be loaded to the POPs in the selected region(s).

    By default, loading is applied to the entire network (i.e., all regions).

• Each load request needs to be processed. Therefore, a load request will be placed in a queue. The Purge/Load page provides the means to keep track of when a request was made and when it was completed.
• There is a default limit of 50 concurrent load requests at any given time.

• Automate loading content via a script that leverages our REST API.

  View our REST API Help Center

• ADN: By default, content is not cached on this platform. This load feature can be used to cache content that has mass appeal.

To load content

1. Navigate to the Purge/Load page corresponding to the desired platform.
2. From the URL option, which can be found under the Load To Edge section, select the base URL where the desired content can be found.

3. Directly below the URL option, type the relative path to the asset that will be loaded.

   Since a forward slash (/) has been added for your convenience, make sure that this relative path starts after the forward slash.

   The base URL for this relative path is the URL selected in the previous step.

   Include the file extension when specifying the file name.

4. Click Load Content.

To perform a bulk load

1. Navigate to the Purge/Load page corresponding to the desired platform.
2. Click the "Bulk Load" link, which can be found under the Load To Edge section, to display the URLs option.
3. In the URLs option, type the CDN or edge CNAME URL that points to the asset that will be loaded.
4. Add another load request by pressing ENTER and then specifying the desired CDN or edge CNAME URL. Repeat this step as needed.
5. From the Regions option, perform one of the following steps:
   • Load to All Regions (Recommended): Select All.

   • Load to Specific Regions:

     1. Select Custom.
     2. Mark the regions where content should be loaded.
     3. Clear all other regions.
6. Click Load Content.

Each CDN or edge CNAME URL specified in the URLs option must be placed on a separate line. This can be accomplished by using a carriage return to delimit each CDN or edge CNAME URL. Using any other type of character (e.g., a comma) as a delimiter may prevent the asset from being loaded.

Regions

Content may be loaded to our entire network or solely to specific regions. Loading by region provides the means through which cache optimization may be targeted to regions where demand is highest.

Regional loading is designed to meet specialized cache management needs. When in doubt, load content to all regions.

By default, load requests are applied across the entire CDN network.

The available set of regions are described below.

Region	Description
North America	This region encompasses all POPs in North America.
US: Eastern Time Zone	This region encompasses all POPs in the Eastern Time zone of the United States. View map.
US: Central Time Zone	This region encompasses all POPs in the Central Time zone of the United States. View map.
US: Pacific Time Zone	This region encompasses all POPs in the Pacific Time zone of the United States. View map.
Europe	This region encompasses all POPs in Europe.
Asia	This region encompasses all POPs in Asia and Australia.
South America	This region encompasses all POPs in South America.

View a list of POPs and their corresponding regions.

Key information:

• The Regions option determines whether cached content will be loaded to:
  • Entire Network: Select All.
  • Specific Regions:
    1. Select Custom.
    2. Mark each region to which content should be loaded.
    3. Clear each region to which content should not be loaded.
    4. Click Load Content to submit the load request.
• Selecting the "North America" region will load content to all POPs in North America. This takes place regardless of whether other US regions have been cleared.
  • Load content to only certain regions in the US by clearing the North America option and then marking the desired regions.

Edgecast CDN