Connect Your Images

Before you begin

To get started you first must know the domain where you store your images and tell Image and Video Manager where that domain is. If you have a web site or an application that is already using Akamai to deliver content and that web site contains your images (your images are on the same domain), then Image and Video Manager already knows the location of your images and you can proceed to the steps below to begin configuring image optimization.

If you have a web site or application that is not already using Akamai for delivery, you must first CNAME the domain of your web site to Akamai. If your images are on a subdomain within the CNAME domain, then you are all set. If your images are on a separate domain, then you must CNAME that to Akamai as well. For example, if your web site is www.travelanywhere.com, and your videos are at www.travelanywhere.com/videos, you must CNAME www.travelanywhere.com to Akamai and Image and Video Manager automatically haa access to your images. Alternatively, If your web site is www.travelanywhere.com, and your images are at www.videos.travelanywhere.com, you must CNAME both www.travelanywhere.com and www.videos.travelanywhere.com to Akamai.

After you CNAME any domains that contain images to Akamai, for web sites not already on Akamai, you then need to use Akamai's Property Manager to set up a property (or configuration) that corresponds to your web site or application. This property lets Akamai know the hostname of your site. If you think of your web site as a tree structure, this is the top of the tree. Once you follow the steps below to connect Image and Video Manager to the location of your images, Image and Video Manager can locate your images by navigating this tree structure based on the URL that includes the hostname in your property.

Once the above is complete, you then need to navigate to the property that contains the domain with your images. To enable Image and Video Manager to optimize your videos, you must add the Image Manager rule to that property in Property Manager.

Before you begin this process you must:
  • Have the ability to log in to Control Center and open Property Manager.
  • Have a valid contract that includes Image and Video Manager.
  • Create the property that corresponds to the site with media that you want to optimize. For more information, see the Property Manager Help.

To enable Image and Video Manager image optimization you must add it to your delivery configuration:

How to

  1. Use the top-right menu in the header to select the appropriate Control Center account (one with access to the applicable product).
  2. Enter the name of the property in the Find Context field.

    The Property Details screen displays.

  3. Click Open Version # at the top of the page and select the version number.

    The Property Manager Editor displays.

  4. Click Add Rule, then select Image Manager, and click Insert Rule.
    Attention: Be sure that the Image and Video Manager rule is the last rule that modifies origin settings. Check that no rule applies the Origin Server behavior after the Image and Video Manager rule. (Cloudlets origins however, which are configured with the Cloudlets Origin Group rule, can appear after the Image and Video Manager rule.) Here's an example without a Cloudlets Origin Group rule:
    Here's an example when there is a Cloudlets Origin Group rule:
    For more information refer to Why should Image and Video Manager be the last rule in the configuration? Knowledge Base Article.

    The Image Manager rule appears in the Property Manager Editor.

    Add the Image Manager Rule
  5. Select the match criteria for the rule in the If section. Specify the file extensions of your images.
  6. In the Image Manager behavior, complete these fields:
    If...Then...
    Enable Turn on to enable image optimization.
    Scale for Mobile Turn on to let Image and Video Manager's algorithms pick the best derivative image width for the requesting device's screen size and resolution.
    Use Best File Type Turn on to convert images automatically to the best file type for the requesting device. This feature produces the smallest file size that retains image quality, based on the user agent and initial image file.
    Region Pick a location close to your site’s heaviest traffic. (If the region of heaviest traffic varies, choose United States.) Image and Video Manager distributes cached objects from here to edge servers.
    Pristine Images CP Code Select the Content Provider (CP) code for traffic between Image and Video Manager and your origin, where your original images reside.
    Derivative Images CP Code Select the CP code for traffic serving derivative images to end users.
    Policy Set Type If you set this to Custom, Image and Video Manager creates a custom policy set and links this Property Manager rule to a set of Image Manager policies.
    Policy Set Name (API Key) Keep note of this name, which associates a set of Image and Video Manager policies with this instance of the Image Manager behavior. You’ll need this value when setting up your policies.
  7. Click Save and exit Property Manager.

Next steps

For more information on configuring your image settings, see Configure Image and Quality Settings.