Before you begin your Image and Video Manager setup, you will need:

• A login to ​Akamai Control Center​
• Access to Property Manager
• A contract that includes Image and Video Manager
• An active web performance configuration
• A property that corresponds to the the website with the images and videos you wish to optimize

You will also need to make sure that Image and Video Manager knows the location of your source image and video files.

Web performance configuration

If you do not have an active web performance configuration, you will need to create one.

• For non-secure delivery, see Serve content over HTTP
• For secure delivery, see Serve content over HTTPs

Property

You will need a property that corresponds to the website with the images you wish to optimize. If this property does not exist, you will need to create it.

• For caching: ensure that the cache image object is stored for at least 1 day.
• For configuration: set the Image and Video Manager's behavior at the end of the property settings.

For more information about creating a property, see the Property Manager documentation.

Location of images and videos

To get started, you need to let Image and Video Manager know the domain where you store your images and videos.

If you have a website or application that is already using ​Akamai​ to deliver content, and your images and videos are on the same domain, then Image and Video Manager already knows the location of your images and videos. You are ready to get started.

If your website or application is not already using ​Akamai​ for delivery, you must first assign the CNAME ​Akamai​ to the domain of your website. If your images and videos are on a subdomain within the CNAME domain, then you are all set. If your images and videos are on a separate domain, you must assign the CNAME ​Akamai​ to that as well.

For example, if your website is www.travelanywhere.com, and your videos are at www.travelanywhere.com/videos, if you give www.travelanywhere.com the CNAME ​Akamai​, Image and Video Manager will automatically have access to your images and videos. Alternatively, If your website is www.travelanywhere.com, and your images and videos are at www.videos.travelanywhere.com, you must assign the CNAME ​Akamai​ to both www.travelanywhere.com and www.videos.travelanywhere.com.

After you assign the CNAME ​Akamai​ to any domains that contain images and videos, you will need to use Property Manager to set up a property (or configuration) that corresponds to your website or application for any websites not already on ​Akamai​. This property lets ​Akamai​ know the hostname of your website. If you think of your website as a tree structure, this is the top of the tree. Once you connect Image and Video Manager to the location of your images and videos, Image and Video Manager can locate your images and videos by navigating this tree structure based on the URL that includes the hostname in your property.

Limitations

Image and Video Manager does not send request headers sent by end users to the origin. Please contact your ​Akamai​ account team when using request headers for validation purposes at the origin.