How to manage your CDN through the CDN tool in Site Tools
SiteGround’s CDN tool lets you speed up your website by caching and serving content from edge servers closer to your visitors. This article explains how to enable, configure, and disable the CDN, and how to troubleshoot the most common issues.
Before you start:
- You need an active SiteGround hosting plan with Site Tools access.
- Your domain must use SiteGround’s nameservers for the CDN to route traffic correctly.
- Enabling CDN on a subdomain or parked domain, or using premium caching features, requires the Premium CDN plan.
How to access the CDN tool and enable CDN
- To enable, disable, and manage the settings of the CDN service, go to the Speed section in your Site Tools.
- Pick the desired CDN plan.
- Then, to activate the service click the Activate button for the selected plan:
- To stop using the CDN click the Deactivate button:
CDN Settings
Once the CDN is active, you can adjust its behavior from the CDN settings screen.
Basic Features
These features are available on all CDN plans.
- Cache Purge: Immediately initiate a purge of all cached resources for your website. Note that deleting all caches around the world could take up to 60 seconds. Important: Clearing your cache too often may slow down your site;
- Development Mode: Development Mode temporarily suspends CDN’s caching features for all site visitors. Development mode is useful if you are making changes to cacheable content (like images, css, or JavaScript) and would like to see those changes right away. Note: Once entered, development mode will last for 30 minutes and then it will automatically toggle off;
Premium Features
You can enable these features only on the Premium CDN plan. You can order the upgrade directly from the service page in Site Tools > Upgrade to Premium.
- Dynamic Caching: The Dynamic Cache is a full-page caching mechanism for non-static resources installed on the CDN edge servers. It prevents unnecessary database queries, processing of each page visit, and more;
- Cache duration setting (TTL): the value determines how long the dynamic resources for your website are cached, which by default is 12 hours. Important: If your website’s application sends Cache-Control headers, they will override the CDN TTL value;
- Under Attack Mode – Activate if you believe your website is under a DDoS attack. Before accessing your site all visitors will see a simple page while we are verifying the traffic. If the visit cannot be verified automatically, the visitor will need to complete a challenge to prove they are real. This way we filter the real visitors from the malicious traffic;
- Keep site online: keeps your site online when your hosting server is not accessible, or the site returns an error message, and our CDN has cached copies of the site.
How to use the CDN with an SSL?
The CDN can be used with an SSL without the need of any additional setup. If you already have an SSL installed and your website is configured to open with HTTPS your website will still work normally with this setup after enabling the CDN.
How to enable CDN on a subdomain or a parked domain?
- You can activate the service for all types of domains from the CDN section in your Site Tools.
- Choose the desired domain from the Select Domain dropdown > CDN toggle button.
The CDN can be enabled for subdomains and parked domains only if you have the Premium CDN plan. You can order the upgrade from your Client Area > Marketplace > Hosting Services > CDN > Get.
When using the SiteGround nameservers – ns1.siteground.net (75.2.77.104) and ns2.siteground.net (99.83.229.113) your domain name is using our centralized DNS.
The centralized DNS is an essential part of the CDN as it checks the location of the website’s visitors and routes the incoming traffic to the appropriate CDN edge server where the visitor’s requests are handled. Without this functionality, there is no way to tell which edge server should an incoming request be forwarded to and thus the CDN cannot function.
Troubleshooting and FAQ
- My cache isn’t clearing after I click Cache Purge. What should I check?
A full purge across all edge servers can take up to 60 seconds. If content still looks outdated after that, clear your browser cache and confirm you’re not viewing a locally cached copy of the page.
- My site won’t load/shows an error after I enable the CDN. What’s wrong?
This is usually caused by a domain that isn’t pointed to SiteGround’s nameservers. Check for the DNS-not-pointed warning in the CDN tool and confirm your nameservers match the values listed above.
- Why do some visitors see a challenge page after I enable Under Attack Mode?
Under Attack Mode shows all visitors a verification page while suspicious traffic is filtered out. Visitors who can’t be verified automatically are asked to complete a short challenge before reaching your site.
- Do I need to reconfigure my SSL after enabling the CDN?
No. If SSL is already installed and your site opens over HTTPS, it continues to work without any extra setup.
- What happens if I change my domain’s nameservers after activating the CDN?
The CDN automatically stops working and is disabled. You’ll need to re-point your domain to SiteGround’s nameservers and reactivate the CDN.
Next steps
If you want to speed up your site further, check out these 15 actionable tips on website speed optimization.
