Akamai's content delivery network (CDN) helps deliver your sites and apps faster and more securely. Akamai also offers cloud-based Linode compute instances so you can quickly set up, store, and manage your website. This tutorial incorporates both our CDN and compute services to deliver a basic, secure site.

What to expect

Once you’ve completed all the steps in this tutorial, you should have:

A website accessible on the largest globally distributed content delivery network (CDN). This brings your site physically closer to your customers, dramatically speeding up its delivery time.
Enhanced, secure connections. The connection between your customers and your site content on the Akamai edge network is protected by HTTPS using an enhanced transport layer security (TLS) connection. This type of connection supports the exchange of personally identifiable information (PII)—typically required for use cases like e-commerce and health care.
Multiple Linodes in the cloud to store your site. All of your website files need to be accessible by Akamai edge servers to deliver your site to requesting clients. This tutorial includes steps for setting up multiple cloud-based compute instances (Linodes) in a load balancing architecture for failover purposes.
A site that’s delivered faster and more securely. Through the creation of a delivery configuration, or property, you'll add rules and behaviors to help speed up and secure your site.

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Looking for something simpler?
See our Deliver your first site tutorial for a workflow that shows how to onboard a simple, secure site using Standard TLS (no PII) and Akamai NetStorage for origin services.

The workflow

The steps in this tutorial follow a phased approach. Each phase can be completed using the Akamai Control Center and Cloud Manager user interfaces, or if you prefer a programmatic approach, you can complete the steps using the Akamai API (application programming interface) and Linode API.

1	Get access. Add a group, roles, and users to your contract to get access to the tools and products you'll need to set up delivery. Review your website make-up to get storage requirements. User Interface \| API
2	Set up Linodes. Set up multiple Linode compute instances to house your website content. When delivering content via a CDN, these act as the origin server. User Interface \| API
3	Get your edge cert. For requests between a client and the Akamai network, you'll first need to set up a certificate to secure that connection. This is your edge certificate. User Interface \| API
4	Define your property. Create and apply an edge hostname to redirect requests to the Akamai edge network, apply your Linodes as your origin server, and configure how you want to deliver your content with rules and behaviors. User Interface \| API
5	Test and go live. Test your property to make sure it's delivering your site like you want it to. Push it to production to start delivering your site through the Akamai network. User Interface \| API

1	Get access. Add a group, roles, and users to your contract to get access to the tools and products you'll need to set up delivery. Review your website make-up to get storage requirements. User Interface \| API
2	Set up Linodes. Set up multiple Linode compute instances to house your website content. When delivering content via a CDN, these act as the origin server. User Interface \| API
3	Get your edge cert. For requests between a client and the Akamai network, you'll first need to set up a certificate to secure that connection. This is your edge certificate. User Interface \| API
4	Define your property. Create and apply an edge hostname to redirect requests to the Akamai edge network, apply your Linodes as your origin server, and configure how you want to deliver your content with rules and behaviors. User Interface \| API
5	Test and go live. Test your property to make sure it's delivering your site like you want it to. Push it to production to start delivering your site through the Akamai network. User Interface \| API