This step of the tutorial tests your setup so that you can go live with your site on the ​Akamai​ edge network.

Test your setup

While not required, it is a best practice to activate and test your site on the staging network before pushing to production.

1. Activate on staging

Activate your Ion property on ​Akamai​'s staging network.

1. Access ​Control Center​.

2. Log in using your primary admin user.

3. Select ☰ > CDN > Properties.

4. Find your Ion property in the table, and click its Property Name.

5. On your property's Version History tab, click Version 1 to access it for testing.

6. Scroll down to Property Hostnames, and note your Edge Hostname using the format YOUR_DOMAIN.edgekey.net. You will need this value when targeting edge servers during testing.

7. Click the Activate tab.

8. Click Activate v1 on Staging to open the Activation window. Set these options:

   • Fast Activation. To speed up activation, ensure this is set to On.

   • Notes. You can optionally include a description for this version's activation.

   • Notify via email. This defaults to the email address set for your primary admin user. Separate multiple addresses with a comma (",") if you'd like to send notifications to additional emails.

9. Click Activating v1 on Staging.

10. Activation on the staging network generally takes under three minutes since no live traffic servers are updated. During activation you can:

    • Monitor the Activate tab to track progress.

    • View your property version. This lets you review settings and information regarding the property.

    • Wait for the confirmation email. Any email provided in Notify via email gets an email when the activation is complete.

See our documentation on How activation works for more information.

2. Point to edge servers

Temporarily set up your local browser to target an edge server to access your property.

1. Get your edge hostname's actual IP address. To do this, append -staging to the edge hostname you noted earlier (for example: docsassociates.com.edgekey-staging.net), and run one of the commands below from a terminal session on your local machine:

   O/S	Detail
   Linux/macOS	Run the following dig command based on your local machine's operating system. Then, scan the results for an IP address (for example: 192.0.2.49), and make note of it. The +short option consolidates the output so that you only see relevant information instead of additional headers and query details. IPv4-only dig docsassociates.com.edgekey-staging.net +short IPv4 + IPv6 dual stack (Returns an IPv6 address.) dig AAAA docsassociates.com.edgekey-staging.net +short
   Windows	Open a new command prompt, and perform an "nslookup" of your edge hostname. Scan the results for an IP address (for example: 192.0.2.49), and make note of it. IPv4-only / IPv4 + IPv6 dual stack nslookup www.docsassociates.com.edgekey-staging.net

2. Open your local hosts file in a text editor, replacing /path/to/ with the actual file path to your hosts file based on your local system:

   nano /path/to/hosts

   For example, if your hosts file is located in /private/etc, your command using the nano text editor would be:

   nano /private/etc/hosts

   O/S	Detail
   Linux	Check for it in /etc. Requires superuser access.
   macOS	Check for it in /private/etc. Requires superuser access.
   Windows	Check for it in \system32\drivers\etc. Requires Administrator-level access.

   📘

   See the relevant user documentation for the default location of the hosts file on your local operating system.

3. At the end of the hosts file, add an entry on a new line for the actual domain to your website that includes the edge hostname's IP address.

   192.0.2.49 docsassociates.com

4. Save and close your hosts file. All requests from your local system to your domain will now go to an edge server. Keep in mind:

   • This applies to your local system, only.

   • To undo the redirection to the edge server, remove the new entry from your hosts file.

5. If you're using macOS X, run this command to flush your DNS cache:

   sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

3. Install an extension

​Akamai​ delivers Pragma headers with its content for caching purposes. To support Pragma headers for testing, you need to install a "modify headers" extension on your browser.

1. Search for "modify header extension for [your browser]" to find one compatible with your local system.

2. Follow the instructions in the extension to set up a header as follows:

   • Header name: Pragma

   • Header value:

     akamai-x-cache-on, akamai-x-cache-remote-on, akamai-x-check-cacheable, akamai-x-get-cache-key, akamai-x-get-extracted-values, akamai-x-get-nonces, akamai-x-get-true-cache-key, akamai-x-get-client-ip

3. Save and enable the header.

4. Check your connection

When a browser requests your content on staging edge servers, ​Akamai​ adds the X-Akamai-Staging HTTP response header to the request. Look for this header in a request to make sure your browser is pointed to the staging network.

1. Close all browser windows, reopen your browser, and clear the browser cache.

2. Access the Developer Network functionality in your browser:

   • Chrome. Right-click (Command+click on macOS) in the browser window and select Inspect. Click the Network tab. You may need to click >> to reveal it in the toolbar.

   • Edge. Press F12, and then press Ctrl+4 to open the Network utility.

   • Firefox. Press Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows) or Command+Opt+E (macOS). This takes you to the Network tool.

   • Safari. Select Safari > Preferences, click Advanced, then enable Show Develop menu in menu bar. Select Developer > Show Web Inspector and select the Network tab.

3. Point your browser to the domain you included in your local hosts file.

4. In the Network section, click the first file listed. This is typically the domain for your actual site.

5. Review the response headers, and look for X-Akamai-Staging: ESSL. If you don't see it, go back to 2. Point to edge servers.

For more information on testing, including how to test using a terminal emulator, see our Test your property guide.

5. You're ready to test

Access your website the same way you normally would to test it.

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When testing, use your actual domain for requests—don't use its edge hostname. Edge hostnames are applied automatically by your DNS to reroute requests to the ​Akamai​ edge network.

1. Check key functionality, such as logging in, playback, and so on.

2. Once you're satisfied that your property works as expected, remove the hosts file entry you added and then save it.

3. On macOS, flush your DNS cache again with the sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder command.

Go live

Begin delivering your website or app to your end users through the ​Akamai​ edge network.

1. Activate your cert on production

Push your domain-validated Enhanced TLS certificate to ​Akamai​'s production network.

1. Access ​Control Center​.

2. Log in using your primary admin user.

3. Select ☰ > CDN > Certificates.

4. Find your certificate in the table based on the common name (CN) you set for it.

5. Click Yes under Always test on Staging before deployment, then select No in the pop-up. This enables automatic renewal of your cert when it expires. You added the Auto Domain Validation behavior to your property for this purpose.

📘

If you don't complete this step, you'll have to manually renew your certificate on its expiration date.

7. Note the date listed under Staging Network and click it.

8. Click Push to Production and then Yes to confirm.

It may take up to a half hour to deploy your certificate to production. Once it's done, Production Network should list the expiration date you noted, and Staging Network should read: Same as production.

2. Activate your property on production

Next, push your Ion property to the production network.

1. While logged into ​Control Center​ with your primary admin user, select ☰ > CDN > Properties.

2. Find your Ion property in the table, and click its Property Name.

3. In the Active Staging Version content panel, click Version 1.

4. Click the Activate tab.

5. Click Activate v1 on Production to open the Activation window. Set these options:

   • Fast Activation. To speed up activation, ensure this is set to On.

   • Notes. Include an optional description for the production version's activation.

   • Notify via email. This defaults to the email address set for the active ​Control Center​ user. You can change it or add additional emails. Separate multiple addresses with a comma (",").

6. Leave all other options at their default setting and click Activating v1 on Production.

7. Activation time can vary for first time activations, but full activation generally completes in under 15 minutes. During activation, you can:

   • Monitor the Activate tab to track progress.

   • View your property version. This lets you review settings and information regarding the property.

   • Wait for the confirmation email. Any email set in Notify via email gets an email when the activation is complete.

3. Point to your configuration

You need to change the existing DNS record for your site or application to be a CNAME record that points to the ​Akamai​ edge hostname. This reroutes requests for your site or app to the ​Akamai​ edge network.

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Before making changes, make note of your existing DNS entries for use in troubleshooting.

Before

This an example of a generic DNS record for a domain before being moved to the ​Akamai​ edge network. In the record, 192.0.2.50 represents the IP address for your origin server:

docsassociates.com. IN A 192.0.2.50

After

This an example of that same domain in a DNS record pointing to ​Akamai​'s Enhanced TLS network:

docsassociates.com. IN CNAME docsassociates.com.edgekey.net

How long does the DNS change take?

DNS updates need to be applied before delivery via the edge network can start. This depends on the time to live (TTL) you've set for your site's DNS record. In many environments, this is set to one day by default. This means it can take up to 24 hours to fully reroute requests. To shorten this:

1. Reduce your DNS TTL before you change to the ​Akamai​ edge.

2. Revert it back after the change.

You can switch your website or application to the edge network at any time after completing the activation steps and testing. No additional activation or monitoring is required.

Troubleshooting

If you notice a problem after switching your content to the production network:

1. Roll back the DNS change to point your website or application back to your origin servers.

2. Report the problem to ​Akamai​.

This helps you and ​Akamai​ identify the problem in a controlled environment without affecting live end users.