Gossamer Forum: Products: Gossamer Links: Development, Plugins and Globals: CDN plugin

Jan 28, 2011, 3:27 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jan 28, 2011, 3:27 AM

Post #1 of 8

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CDN plugin - anyone interested?

Hi,

With the success of using a CDN (Content Delivery Network) on my new blog, I thought I would give my hand at writing one for GLinks, and maybe GComm and GForum too (later on Wink

)

Here is an article I wrote about CDN's:

http://www.mywebsitedesignersblog.com/...your-site-with-cdns/

Is this something anyone would be interested in? I've seen it make a HUGE difference with the page load times (one of the site I've worked on, it took over 2 seconds from a 4second page - so a LOT!)

The plugin will be free, and all I ask is that you signup under my affiliate link (I get a small commission for the sale, and then a recurring payment, every time you "top up" your bandwidth)

Is this something people would be interested in?

The basic prices for the system I'm designing it for, is $40 to signup (you get 1 TB of bandwidth for that), and then $10 a month (for the "disk space") ... which is very reasonable.

Comments are welcome Smile

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jan 28, 2011, 10:52 AM

MJB

Enthusiast (559 posts)

Jan 28, 2011, 10:52 AM

Post #2 of 8

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Re: [Andy] CDN plugin - anyone interested? In reply to

Sounds complicated to me. I've had a quick read of your blog page and also the pages linked in there but nowhere can I find how you actually implement it.

Is it like another hosting package? Do you have to upload your site again to another server?

Also, it may be as well saying that the plug-in would be free but it's useless without a CDN account which is another bill to pay.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking your hard work or ideas, I just don't think that it's something I personally would be interested in right now.

If you can explain a little more or convince me that it's worthwhile then I'll take your comments in to account.

Angelic

Jan 28, 2011, 10:57 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jan 28, 2011, 10:57 AM

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Re: [MJB] CDN plugin - anyone interested? In reply to

Hi,

Yeah, you have to signup for the MaxCDN system., BUT its well worth it. Basically, what it would do is, is load the CSS/JS and images from your server, direct on their CDN

A CDN is a collection of computers around the world (in this case, many hundreds), which take traffic based on where you are located.

So, although my servers are with GT, and based in Canada - the server I get my files from (the js/gif/png/css/etc) comes from a server in the UK - which makes it much quicker for each file (as it doesn't have to travel half way around the world to get to me ;))

The $40 setup is minimal, and even for a large site (thousands of hits a day), it should still last a good 6 months.... even longer for those with less traffic (I've only used up 2gb of my 1000gb so far, and I've had it 2 months ;))

The only ongoing cost isthe $10 one ... which is pretty minimal, considering the advanced :)

Once I've got the plugin finished, I'll setup an example install so you can see the difference it makes (even on a bog-standard luna template). Its almost finished now - just gotta work on some issues with relative URLs (i.e ../path/somefile.gif) ... which is prooving to be a sod :(

BTW, setting it up is literally a 2 minute job - I'll have done all the hard work Angelic

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jan 29, 2011, 12:13 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jan 29, 2011, 12:13 AM

Post #4 of 8

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Re: [Andy] CDN plugin - anyone interested? In reply to

Well, the plugin is almost finished - just need to clean up some bits, make some of the hard-coded "settings" into proper plugin settings, and then write up some documentation for it ... and its done =)

BTW, for any of you who are contemplating using it, but not quite sure if its for you - I'm quite happy to let you test out your site on my CDN account (only for a day though, as it obivously costs me too ;)) ... PM me if you would like to arrange that. Then hopefully some people can post here, and prove how much its improved their loadtimes for the site Wink

)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jan 29, 2011, 2:15 PM

el noe

User (429 posts)

Jan 29, 2011, 2:15 PM

Post #5 of 8

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Re: [Andy] CDN plugin - anyone interested? In reply to

Hi Andy,

I would like to give it a try, think it makes sense with css and js for us.
Do they have a limitations with urls, means if I register at MaxCDN can I serve a couple of Domains with one account.
I guess for css and js the 1TB will last a while (sorry, means less commission :) )

n || i || k || o

Jan 30, 2011, 2:10 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jan 30, 2011, 2:10 AM

Post #6 of 8

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Re: [el noe] CDN plugin - anyone interested? In reply to

Hi,

You can have as many URL's on one account as you want :)

Also, its not just the JS/CSS you will be serving from the CDN - images will also be done from it (as these tend to be the files which take the longest to download, especially over long distances)

I've managed to get my laptop running my main bits of software now, so I'm gonna have a go at trying to get this plugin finished off today, so people can start testing it :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jan 30, 2011, 4:49 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jan 30, 2011, 4:49 AM

Post #7 of 8

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Re: [Andy] CDN plugin - anyone interested? In reply to

The plugin is now finished - just gotta write up some documentation, and then I'm gonna give it a go on one of my own GLinks site (my-free-css-templates.com), to make sure its all working ok, before I let other people try it out. Should hopefully have it ready in the next few hours :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

Jan 30, 2011, 7:53 AM

Andy

Veteran / Moderator (18436 posts)

Jan 30, 2011, 7:53 AM

Post #8 of 8

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Re: [el noe] CDN plugin - anyone interested? In reply to

Hi,

The plugin is now finished, and I've got it running well on my site here: http://www.my-free-css-templates.com/

If you would like to email or PM me, and I'll get a copy sent over Smile

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk