If you want to find out how to setup a CDN in WordPress, you’re at the right place! I’ve been with in over the last couple of months on a few different WordPress powered blogs and websites to test the increase in page speed and site load times for website optimisation purposes. There has been news circulating around the social networks that indicates that there has been a large increase in active sites using CloudFront, which according to is now in excess of 20,000 active CloudFront customers. I recently wrote a blog post on , so I created this guide on setting up a CDN in WordPress using and the  for anyone that is interested in finding out how. How to setup a CDN in WordPress using Amazon CloudFront and W3 Total Cache Here’s a quick guide on how you can setup and use a CDN for your WordPress powered website or blog using and the . Step 1: Register for CloudFront via Amazon Web Services (AWS) Go to the website. If you don’t have an Amazon.com account, you’ll have to . If you alreadyhave an account, use your Amazon.com credentials to create an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account. In order to use AWS, you will have to provide valid credit card details when creating your account. Pay only for the data transfer and requests that you actually use. Amazon CloudFront passes on the benefits of Amazon’s scale to you. You pay only for the content that you deliver through the network, without minimum commitments or up-front fees. Pay only for what you use! There is no minimum fee. Estimate your monthly bill using the . For a rough idea as to pricing, see the table below: In order to complete the Amazon Web Services sign up process, you’ll have to verify your identity with a telephone number. It’s 3 easy steps: provide a telephone number, you’ll be called back (and asked for a code that has been sent to you) and then – once verified – you can review your account details to proceed. Your account activation process will then begin activating your settings so that you can beginusing Amazon CloudFront. You’ll be notified via email once the verification is complete, and then once verified, you’ll have access to your Amazon Web Services account’s dashboard. Click on “Amazon CloudFront”. You’ll be taken to your AWS Management Console for Amazon CloudFront fro which you can manage your distributions. NOTE: Before you go any further in Amazon CloudFront, you’ll need a CNAME record setup on your domain hosting account. I recommend that you you set this up prior to creating your CDN distribution in Amazon CloudFront, as you’re going to need your CNAME record details to setup the service. Some of my domains run on a cPanel based admin interface so if you need to learn how to, read my short blog post on . Click on “Create distribution”. You will be asked what type of delivery method you’ll be using (e.g. Download) as well as the origin domain name (i.e. yourdomainname.com) and the sub-domain you’ll have your CDN running on, etc. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be takenback to the dashboard and you will notice a new domain name created for your distribution – it will look like xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.cloudfront.net – which is the address you’ll be using when creating your CNAME record in cPanel. Your dashboard will then display your distribution ID, status, domain name and other information you’ll require when setting up Amazon Cloudfront as a CDN in WordPress. Step 2: Configure W3 Total Cache to use Amazon CloudFront as a CDN Go to the “Performance” menu item – only displayed if you have installed the  and are running version 3.3 – in your WordPress installation to expand the visible options. From here you’ll be able to setup and configure your new Amazon CloudFront distribution’s details. In the “Configuration” section, input details of Amazon CloudFront distributions access key ID, secret key, cloudfront.net domain name, CDN and origin server. You’ll also be able to specify which file types get hosted on your CDN – in this specific case I have opted toserve all resources (i.e. attachments, includes, theme files, minified CSS and javascript files) via my new CloudFront CDN. Other optional settings include not replacing URL’s for logged in administrators, setting he cookie domain to your origin domain as well as a section where you can specify which file types to import. Once you’re done, click on the “Save all settings” button and then purge the  cache. If you have successfully configured your Amazon CloudFront CDN, you’ll be able to see so at the top of your CDN settings page in W3 Total Cache. That’s it! You’ve now successfully setup a CDN in WordPress using Amazon CloudFront and the W3 Total Cache plugin. Has setting up your CDN improved your WordPress powered websites page speed? You can find this out by enabling the Google Page Speed API in the “General Settings” of W3 Total Cache. NOTE: If you don’t have a Google Page Speed API key, you can get on on the . If you have specified and enabled W3 Total Cache to use the Google PageSpeed API, you’ll be able to measure your page speed rating which can be displayed  on your WordPress dashboard. For this specific site installing Amazon CloudFront as a CDN boosted the test domains page speed report score by 4 points – from 88 to 92 points. A 4 point increase is not bad as far as I’m concerned NOTE: By no means will CloudFront exclusively be able to improve your page speed report as the results will depend on what theme you’re using, your hosting provider, hosting setup, resources you use on your domain and several other factors. The Google Page Speed report in WordPress will allow you to identify and fix the elements which slow your site down.

The following two tabs change content below. Online Marketing Junkie My name is . I have built-up a wide range of digital marketing skills over the last 15 years working in the web industry. From front-end web design and graphics, to SEO and online marketing. I'm creative, commercial and technically minded. South African born & bred, I work in the UK online marketing industry. I'm a proud dad & husband that loves music, photography and mixed martial arts. Latest posts by Pedro Da Silva () - 7 December 2014 - 31 October 2012 - 10 October 2012 - 3 October 2012 - 14 September 2012