Configuring a Zone
On the PixelBin Platform, you can create and configure multiple zones.
To check all your configured zones, go to the Zones page.
A zone by the name of Default is already created for an organization. This zone points to the PixelBin Storage library and is linked to the Default datasource.
An organization can only have a maximum of 50 zones at any given time.
Creating a Zone
First, navigate to the Zones tab and click the Create Zone button. This will redirect you to the Zones Form page.
The creation of the zone is divided into 4 sub-sections:
General
The 'General' section contains the basic information (name, unique identifier and the linked datasource) related to the zone.
- Enter a name for the zone. The name should comprise alphanumeric characters, hyphens and underscores.
- Enter the slug value or use the placeholder one. The slug is the unique identifier for a zone. Once created, it cannot be changed later. The default zone has no slug parameter.
- Select a pre-configured datasource to link to this zone.
- An optional fallback datasource can also be selected.
As the name implies a fallback datasource is used to get a file if the file is not found in the primary datasource.
First, the primary datasource is checked for the existence of the file. If it is found, then the primary datasource will be used to get the file.
If the file is not found in the primary datasource, then the fallback datasource will be checked for the same.
If the file is also not found in the fallback datasource, then the CDN URL will return a 404 status code.
Optimization
The Optimization section is used to set up optimizations for the images delivered over the Zone URL.
Format Optimization: There are two options to optimize image formats in PixelBin.
Use best format for image delivery: This setting delivers images in the most optimized format to the requesting device. This setting works with URL based parameterf_auto=trueForce best format for image delivery: This setting automatically delivers the best image format for all images in the zone. When you use this setting, you no longer have to use the query parameterf_auto=truein the Zone URL.
Quality Optimization: This setting allows you to set default quality compression when delivering images. The quality value will not affect the original delivered images.
Go to Format Optimization and Quality Optimization to know more.
Worker
The 'Worker' section is currently used for transforming the dynamic part of the CDN URL. It is extremely useful for switching between file delivery platforms.
Click here to know more about how to use Worker.
Transformations
The 'Transformations' section provides fine-grained control over which set of transformations can be applied over a Zone CDN URL. By default, all transformations are allowed for a zone.
A zone must contain the name, the slug value and the linked datasource.
Cache Warmup
This section allows you to enable/disable cache warmup for the zone.
When enabled, all new images uploaded to the datasource of this zone will be cached on the CDN even before the first request is made. This can help in reducing the latency for the first request made to the image. You can also specify a list of transformations to be applied to the images during the cache warmup process.
When cache warmup is enabled following versions of the newly uploaded image will be cached:
- The original image
- Each transformation added to the list in the cache warmup section.
- If quality optimization is enabled, both the original image and all transformations with optimized quality will be cached. The original quality images will not be cached.
- If format optimization is enabled, the image and all transformations with the optimized format will be cached alongside the original format images.
- If forced format optimization is enabled, the image and all transformations in the optimized format will be cached. The original format images will not be cached.
This feature is not supported for all datasources. Only the below datasources support cache warmup:
Editing a Zone
Once you create a zone, it will appear in the list of zones. You can click on an existing zone and edit its details when required.
You can edit pretty much all information in a zone except for the slug value.
You cannot edit the name and linked datasource of the Default zone.
Enabling or Disabling a Zone
In case you wish to deactivate a zone, use the toggle button to disable the zone.
You can use the same toggle button to enable the zone and fetch the images using that zone.
You cannot enable/disable the Default zone.
Deleting a Zone
You can at any point in time delete a created zone.
You cannot delete the Default zone.