OnApp CDN FAQs

Setting up your CDN

How do I get OnApp CDN?
What are the hardware requirements?
I'm an OnApp Cloud customer - can I add CDN to my cloud/control panel?
How do I install the edge server software?
What's the process for setting up CDN servers and other resources in my OnApp Cloud?
What's an edge server?
What's an edge group?
What's a CDN resource?

How OnApp CDN works

How does OnApp CDN work?
What CDN services/protocols are currently available?
How do I manage my CDN?

Pricing

How does OnApp CDN pricing work?

CDN Marketplace

How do I submit my edge servers to the marketplace?
How do I add PoPs to my CDN from the marketplace?
If I add PoPs to my CDN from the marketplace, how long does it take for them to become available?
What is the average price for CDN resources on the marketplace?

 

Setting up your CDN

How do I get OnApp CDN?

If you’re an existing OnApp Cloud customer you should first upgrade to version 2.3 or later, which lets you enable CDN for your OnApp control panel. Contact OnApp Support to get started and register your interest in OnApp CDN. 

New customers should register their interest by completing the OnApp CDN contact form.

What are the hardware requirements?

See the CDN requirements page for more information.

I’m an OnApp Cloud customer – can I add CDN to my cloud/control panel?

Yes. With OnApp Cloud 2.3 you can enable CDN for your cloud. Contact Support to upgrade your cloud and sign up for OnApp CDN.

How do I install the edge server software?

The edge server software is a virtual appliance that works in much the same way as a virtual machine template for OnApp Cloud. Setting up an edge server in your CDN control panel takes a few minutes.

What’s the process for setting up CDN servers and other resources in my OnApp Cloud?

Setting up your CDN involves:

  • Enabling CDN for your cloud in the OnApp customer dashboard (contact OnApp Support)
  • Setting the correct permissions for CDN in your Control Panel
  • Setting up edge servers in your OnApp Control Panel, and/or subscribing to servers on the CDN marketplace
  • Creating CDN edge groups and assigning specific edge servers to them
  • Assigning CDN edge groups to billing plans 
  • Creating CDN resources
  • Assign a CDN billing plan to your users

What’s an edge server?

Edge servers cache web content and deliver it to website visitors. They are virtual appliances that are deployed on hypervisors and managed just like VMs. You can use edge servers to sell CDN bandwidth to your end users, and/or submit the edge server to the OnApp CDN marketplace and sell your bandwidth to other hosts. You can create as many edge servers as you need and place them on different hypervisors in different geographical locations, and easily broaden your CDN by combining your own edge servers with other locations on the CDN marketplace. You can even build a CDN solely with marketplace resources.

What’s an edge group?

Edge groups are groups of edge servers – your own, and those you subscribe to from the CDN marketplace. They are usually grouped by location, so they represent a pool of servers for a given geographical area.

Edge groups are assigned to billing plans to set the prices for the bandwidth that your end users consume. The bandwidth pricing of the billing plan is the price for CDN bandwidth sold to your end users.

What’s a CDN resource?

A CDN resource is a specific server with content an end user wants to distribute via the CDN. CDN resources are assigned to edge groups, which determines the list of servers taking part in distributing/caching of their data.

How do I enable CDN for my users?

CDN users are managed in just the same way as cloud users. When you create a user account, you need to grant them all necessary permissions for managing CDN resources and assign the user to the appropriate billing plan.

How it works

How does the OnApp CDN service work?

There are three layers: CDN edge servers (OnApp CDN Stack software) which cache content, and deliver to end users; the core CDN network (OnApp CDNaaS) which redirects content requests from end users to the most suitable edge server; and the CDN marketplace (OnApp CDN Federation) which enables you to buy CDN resources from, and sell your own CDN resources to, other hosts.

What CDN services/protocols are currently available?

The OnApp CDN platform currently supports HTTP Pull, Push, live streaming and video on demand. 

How do I manage my CDN?

Setting up edge servers, managing CDN resources, managing CDN users and billing is all handled through the OnApp control panel. This is hosted on an OnApp controller server.

Managing your OnApp licenses, CDN account, and using the marketplace to add PoPs to your CDN, is handled through the OnApp customer dashboard – a web-based portal that’s free to all OnApp customers.

Pricing

How does OnApp CDN pricing work?

There is pricing for various software and service elements, although not all of them will apply to every host using OnApp CDN. Each potential element of pricing is explained below, followed by a couple of examples to show how it works.

  • OnApp controller server license
    You need an OnApp controller server to host your CDN control panel and manage your edge server resources. OnApp Cloud customers can use their existing controller server (requires version 2.3 or later). New customers will need to license the controller server, which is currently priced at $100/month as part of an OnApp Cloud deployment. There is also a standalone CDN package which includes the controller server, tools and CDN bandwidth for $500/month.

    Please note that currently, each physical CDN location requires a separate controller server. So if you plan to set up CDN PoPs in two different datacenters, you will require an OnApp controller server in each location, with a license for each.
     
  • OnApp CDN Stack (edge server software)
    This is provided free of charge.
     
  • CDNaaS traffic 
    There is a $5/TB fee for all traffic routed through the core CDN network (CDNaaS) to your end users, whether it's from your own edge servers or marketplace servers. CDNaaS is hosted by OnApp at locations around the world, and includes the advanced decision engine used to determine the most suitable edge server to deliver content to end users. 
     
  • CDN Federation/marketplace 
    There is a 10% fee charged for bandwidth you sell on the marketplace. OnApp acts as a clearing house between hosts using the marketplace to buy and sell resources: using the CDN Federation/marketplace to buy and sell bandwidth is designed to be as simple and hassle-free as possible, with payments taken care of automatically.

Pricing examples
Let's say a customer buys your CDN service for website.com. How does pricing work for different types of CDN deployment?

  1. You have your own edge servers, and use them to deliver 1TB of content to your customer's visitors. You would pay $5 for the 1TB of traffic routed through CDNaaS.
  2. You don't have your own edge servers. Instead your CDN is built entirely from marketplace locations, which deliver a total 1TB of content. You pay $5 for that 1TB routed through CDNaaS, plus the bandwidth costs for content delivered from each marketplace location.
  3. You have your own edge servers, and use them to deliver 1TB of website.com traffic. You also use another 500GB of bandwidth from the marketplace for website.com. You pay $7.50 for the total 1.5TB of traffic routed through CDNaaS, plus the bandwidth costs for traffic delivered from each marketplace location.
  4. You make your edge servers available on the marketplace, and sell 1,000GB of bandwidth to other providers at $0.05/GB. You would pay the marketplace broker fee for selling bandwidth, which is 10% of the price of the bandwidth you sell: $5

CDN Marketplace

How do I submit my edge servers to the marketplace?

Submitting an edge server is simply a case of ticking a box during the CDN edge server creation process in the CDN control panel. However, please note that all edge servers you submit are assessed before they are accepted into the marketplace. This helps us ensure effective CDN performance for end users, and for other marketplace users. See the CDN requirements page for more information.

How do I add PoPs to my CDN from the marketplace?

When you become an OnApp CDN customer you get access to the OnApp customer dashboard. This gives you access to the CDN marketplace: you can view all CDN resources available globally, by price and location, and add PoPs to your own CDN as required. Once you’ve added a PoP you’ll be able to see it in your control panel along with your own edge servers, if you have them. The dashboard also lets you manage various other aspects of your CDN, CDN account and OnApp software.

If I add PoPs to my CDN from the marketplace, how long does it take for them to become available?

Edge servers you subscribe to from the marketplace are usually available in a couple of minutes.

How do payments work for CDN resources I buy and sell through the CDN marketplace?

To use the OnApp CDN marketplace you need a minimum of $200 in your CDN account, which you manage through the OnApp customer dashboard. Funds are deducted automatically when bandwidth is used from CDN resources you’ve selected from the marketplace, or when your own edge servers send traffic through the CDN. The same account is used to store revenue you generate by selling bandwidth on the marketplace. OnApp acts as a clearing house for your CDN purchases and sales.

What is the average price for CDN resources on the marketplace?

It is up to individual hosts to set their own pricing. There is, however, a ceiling price for CDN bandwidth in certain regions:

  • US/Europe: maximum price of $0.05 per GB
  • Rest of world: maximum price of $0.20 per GB

The low price of wholesale bandwidth in western markets leaves plenty of margin for hosts using OnApp CDN. The higher price elsewhere reflects the higher overall price of bandwidth outside the EU/US.