How do I implement Akamai Cloud Embed?

Configuring Akamai Cloud Embed (ACE) for your customers involves various steps, that need to be performed in a specific order.

Review the table that follows to get an idea of the tasks required, and order they need to be performed.

Step Description
Step 1: Enable ACE Contact your Account Representative to enable ACE for your account.
Step 2: Determine the delivery method Are subcustomers delivering content via HTTP or HTTPS?
  • HTTPS (and HTTP, if applicable) traffic: Contact your Account Representative to create a secure ACE property and provision the necessary certificates. This is the preferred configuration for Akamai Cloud Embed.
  • HTTP traffic, only: Contact your Account Representative to request a Multi-Domain Edge Hostname and create an InstantConfig property. A Multi-Domain Edge Hostname lets you use a single hostname to represent multiple web assets.
Note: This step only applies at this phase if you're using the Property Manager API to generate your ACE base configuration. If you're using the Property Manager in Akamai Control Center to generate the configuration, you can set all necessary options to define the delivery method there.
Step 3: Create an origin hostname If you don’t already have a hostname to identify the origin server separate from public hostnames, you need to create one. You do this by creating a DNS record for your origin IP. The origin hostname is used by Akamai edge servers to locate your origin server. For example, you might create the hostname origin-www.example.com to point to the IP address of your origin server, if your public hostname is www.example.com.
Note: This isn't necessary if you're using NetStorage as your origin.
Step 4: Create a test hostname Until you’ve completed configuration and testing of your service, you’ll use a test hostname to access the Akamai network. You do this through CNAME of a test hostname to the applicable Edge Hostname.
Step 5: Create the ACE Base Configuration Here, you use the Property Manager in Control Center to create a configuration file that controls how all traffic from subcustomers is served via Akamai Edge servers. Most cloud partners only need one base configuration. So, we suggest that you contact your Account Representative for suggestions on the best configuration for your specific use case.
Step 6: Set up use of the ACE API You need to obtain API credentials for use, and enable use of the API using the Control Center.
Step 7: Add APIs to Your Customer Portal Integrate the applicable ACEAPIs into your customer portal, so that subcustomers can apply desired settings for delivery of their content.
Step 8: Other recommended tasks There are tasks that are not strictly required to implement ACE. However, they are associated with your application, or are highly recommended. This includes things such as configuring log delivery and reporting.
Step 9: Testing Test the end-to-end CDN functionality with subcustomers. You should use a test domain to validate both the functionality and the ACE base configuration.
Step 10: Going Live For the final step to go live, you need to change the DNS to switch subcustomer websites or applications to the Akamai platform.