Getting Started

Welcome to the Edge

You’re walking the first steps to become part of a hyper-connected economy through Azion Edge platform. On your journey with Azion, you’ll find opportunities to explore and improve your projects through new technologies that are constantly being designed to unlock new possibilities.

If you’re in the sign-up process, you can find more information in the account documentation. If you’re looking for more information on Edge Computing and how Azion’s products engage and connect the community, take some time to explore the blog page.

Now, this documentation page will assist you in the Getting Started process. It includes getting to know Azion’s configuration interface, the Real-Time Manager, building an Edge Application from scratch, and further setting up and connecting your newly created application to domains and traffic metrics.

Getting to know Real-Time Manager
Step 1. Build an Edge Application from scratch
Step 2. Launch an Edge Application
Step 3. Setting up an Edge Application
Step 4. Creating a new Domain associated with your Edge Application
Step 5. Pointing your traffic to Azion

Getting to know Real-Time Manager

Real-Time Manager (RTM) is Azion’s configuration interface where you can access all the available products and their settings.

Real-Time Manager homepage

From the homepage, you can see RTM’s header. On the top left corner, you can find the Products Menu, where Azion products and their capabilities are available.

You’ll also see a Status bar indicating how Azion’s systems are operating. You can click the bar and check the status for each of the available Edge Network’s locations.

Next to the Status bar, you can click the Help Center button. It’ll display a series of documentations related to the screen you are currently on and other helpful links.

Note: Documentation related to RTM’s screens in the Help Center may not be available for all screens at the moment.

At the top right corner, you can find the Account Menu, where you can see and update information related to your account.

In the Getting Started section, you’ll find three shortcuts:

Build an Edge Application: this block will guide you through the initial steps to building your first Edge Application from scratch with the setup that best suits your needs.
Manage your Domains: use this block to visit the Domains page. There, you’ll be able to manage and add domains to your applications.

You can create a domain with an SSL certificate granted by Azion. You can also automate domain creation using our API - Azion Domains.
View Edge Application Metrics: here, you’ll find insights based on your applications’ performance, availability, and security. This link will take you to Real-Time Metrics.

On the right side of RTM’s homepage, you can find helpful links taking you to Azion’s documentation page, changelogs, Azion’s API library, and to contact our Support team.

Right after the Getting Started section on the homepage, you can find a shortcut to Invite Your Team to Azion. This is an optional step but if you’re constantly working with a team, inviting them can help you through configurations and the entire working process. Find out more about Teams Permissions.

Below the quick-access options, you can find Azion’s product categories: Build, Secure, Deliver, and Observe. Each of these categories will guide you through your Azion journey and help you set up your applications. Read on to learn how you can explore each category:

Build: create and manage Edge Applications and manage Domains.
Secure: secure your applications by creating Edge Firewalls, managing your Intelligent DNS, and operating WAF rules.
Deliver: deploy Edge Services, Edge Nodes, and Edge Orchestrator.
Observe: visualize important data using Real-Time Metrics, Real-Time Events, Data Streaming, and Edge Pulse.

After becoming familiar with RTM, you can continue your journey and build your Edge Application on Azion. The next few sections will provide clear instructions to the steps you need to take to configure an application and a domain, in addition to suggesting further steps and contents to enhance your application through Azion four categories—Build, Secure, Deliver, Observe.

Step 1. Build an Edge Application from scratch

Building an Edge Application, which allows you to build your web applications to run on Azion’s platform, is the first step to start using Azion Edge platform. This documentation assists you in every step of the journey of building an Edge Application from scratch with Azion’s platform and products.

After logging in to RTM, in the Getting Started section on the homepage, click Build an Edge Application to start creating your own applications.

Build with Edge Application

Select the setup option

Select a function

BUILD

Step 1 of building your Edge Application from scratch is Build. You can build your application as you complete the set up presented to you. Next, you can find information about the required fields to have your Edge Application up and running.

Build with Edge Application

Azion Edge Application allows you to build your applications to run on Azion Edge platform.

Naming your Edge Application

To name your Edge Application you have to fill the text box with a unique new name. This name doesn’t affect how end-users access your application and you can change it at any time.

The platform returns an error message if the name already exists in your library. If it happens, try again with a different name.

A relevant Edge Application name makes your management easier. In case your application relates to:

Specific domain (www.yourapp.com), use an Edge Application name related to the domain name (”www.yourapp.com” or “yourapp www”).
Specific origin system, use an Edge Application name related to the origin (“Cloud Bucket for Statics”) as you may associate it with more domain names.
Specific application usage, use an Edge Application name related to the function (”Checkout application”) as you may associate it with more domain names.

Note: Your Edge Application name exists for administrative purposes. End-user and device access occur on an associated domain name.

Just starting?

To get familiar with the platform and create your first edge application, you can:

Enter a test name.

Proceed to “Run a function”.

Select “Azion - Hello World” in the Choose Edge Function field.

Click Save to continue.

Or, feel free to explore the options and look around.

About Edge Application

Your Edge Application runs serverless in response to events on Edge Nodes of the global Edge Network. DNS resolution is used to dynamic route requests to the best end-to-end connection.

[ User and devices <-> EDGE <-> your application or origin ]

At the Edge Node, an Edge Application associated with the domain name processes each request by executing a Rules Engine.

Each rule can use powerful criteria on nested “If-then” statements to trigger behaviors from enabled modules, such as run a function or set origin.
Each rule is executed until all the rules are processed or a rule with a finalizing behavior is found in the path.

Learn more on the documentation page.

Select the setup option

In the Choose an option to start section, you select an option to start your Edge Application. To get ready faster, your Edge Application will be built and automatically associated with an Azion Domain according to your selection.

To build the Edge Application and automatically associate it with an Azion Domain, select:

Run a function

It’s the default option which lists all the functions available in your function library. The Hello World function is your first choice if this is your first time creating one.

Fetch content from origin

It creates an Edge Application and configures an Origin. Azion fetches your content directly from there and honor cache control headers returned.

Note: In this case, your Edge Application uses the Edge Caching and Application Acceleration modules with explicit policies to cache static files and images on edge network, delivering them directly to your users from the nearest Edge Node without having to access the origin, increasing performance and scalability.

Build an advanced Edge Application

It enables you to customize Edge Functions and origins servers later.

Still in doubt?

Your decision at this point defines the template and basic information for your application, but it can be changed at any time.

After this step, it’ll be much easier to explore changes to the application and evolve its use.

An Edge Application is a set of resources and functionalities, such as:

Edge Functions: code and its arguments.
Edge Caching: usually fetches content from an origin.
Network: for creating business rules at the edge, which are advanced rules with criteria and behavior.

Select a function

In the Configure function section, you select the Edge Function you’ll use with your Edge Application.

Getting to know Edge Functions

Azion Edge Functions is a module of your Edge Application that enables you to program and execute serverless functions without the need to provision or manage servers. All processing occurs directly at the edge of the network, closer to users.

How to select an Edge Function function?

Click on the Choose Edge Function dropdown list.

Select a function from your library in the list. The section with the tabs Code and Args appears.

Note: Functions listed for selection reflect your own function library. If you have no functions in your library, you can only select the Azion — Hello World function.

After selecting the function, a window will appear below, including two tabs: Code and Args. Chosen functions can be visualized in the Code tab and parameterized in the Args tab.

You can read the function’s code on the Code tab. This tab is for reading only.

To edit the Args tab, select this tab and click inside the window to add the args for your functions. Function Args should be in JSON format.

Note: click the Get help button below the Code and Args window to get more related information.

Step 2. Launch an Edge Application

Run a Function — Next Steps

Fetch content from Origin — Next Steps

Advanced Edge Application — Next Steps

LAUNCH

Step 2 of building your Edge Application from scratch is Launch. In this step, you can find a summary of your newly created application and its link. And here, you can find a set of available options to finalize your application according to your chosen settings.

Run a Function – Next Steps

Next steps to continue your Azion setup:

Wait for your application to be published and access it through the link provided on the Launch page.
View your Edge Application Logs and lookup your access by searching the Edge Applications data source. Real-Time Events is located on the Products Menu on the top left corner, in the Observe section.
Link your DNS with your Edge Application or explore more by creating your own Edge Functions with a step by step guide and using the Edge Functions JavaScript Examples.
You may also consider migrating your entire DNS zone to our Intelligent DNS.

We have special journeys prepared for you either if you are starting exploring or if you already have your production systems running with us.

Fetch Content from Origin – Next Steps

Next steps to continue your Azion setup:

Wait for your application to be published and access it through the link provided on the Launch page.
View your Edge Application Logs and lookup your access by quickly searching the Edge Applications data source. Real-Time Events is located on the Products Menu on the top left corner, in the Observe section.
Follow the Getting Started guide to get help on exploring your Edge Application settings.
Configure the business rules required using the available modules:

Application Acceleration: accelerates the performance of applications and APIs by optimizing protocols and building advanced request and response rules.

Edge Caching: a standard module for all of your Edge Applications in Azion. Reduces latency and has a high transfer rate using Azion’s global and highly distributed Edge Network.

Edge Functions: a module that allows you to program your own Edge Functions to be run on Azion’s Edge.

Image Processor: automates the processing of images in the workflow, allowing you to resize, crop, and apply filters to large quantities of images.

Load Balancer: a module that allows you to balance the traffic going to the origin servers.

You may also consider migrating your entire DNS zone to our Intelligent DNS.

Advanced Edge Application – Next Steps

Next steps to continue your Azion setup:

Follow the Getting Started guide to get help on exploring your Edge Application settings.
Configure the business rules required using the available modules:

Application Acceleration: accelerates the performance of applications and APIs by optimizing protocols and building advanced request and response rules.

Edge Caching: a standard module for all of your Edge Applications in Azion. Reduces latency and has a high transfer rate using Azion’s global and highly distributed Edge Network.

Edge Functions: a module that allows you to program your own Edge Functions to be run on Azion’s Edge.

Image Processor: automates the processing of images in the workflow, allowing you to resize, crop, and apply filters to large quantities of images.

Load Balancer: a module that allows you to balance the traffic going to the origin servers.

Consider migrating your entire DNS zone to our Intelligent DNS.

Now that you have already started your journey of moving to the edge, you can explore the rest of our documentation page and find out more about our products, our APIs, and a few use cases selected for you.

Additionally, when you create your first edge application on Azion, you’ll receive an email suggesting Next Steps. This way, you’ll know some of the options to set up your applications and how to take advantage of Azion’s edge platform.

Step 3. Setting up an Edge Application

After creating an application with the Build from scratch process, you can customize or edit its settings anytime you want.

To see what are your current settings and edit them, log in to Real-Time Manager (RTM). From the homepage, follow these steps:

Select the Products Menu on the top left corner.
In the Build section, select Edge Application.
From the list of your Edge Applications, choose the one you want to see or edit.

Note: if you don’t have an Edge Application yet, you can go back to the homepage and follow the steps from Build from scratch or click the Add application button on the Edge Application page.

After selecting the Edge Application you’ll work on, you’ll be directed to a page with the following tabs:

Main Settings
Origins
Device Groups
Error Response
Cache Settings
Functions
Rules Engine

The Device Groups, Error Response, and Rules Engine tabs are of optional use. The Main Settings, Origins, Cache Settings, and Functions tabs need to be configured to have your Edge Application running.

See how to configure the mandatory tabs next:

Main Settings

In this section, you’ll define the main fields related to the delivery of your Applications: HTTP or HTTP & HTTPS. And, also, the Minimum TLS version and Ports fields need configuring.

Field	Description
Delivery Protocol	Define the Delivery Protocol supported by your web application. HTTP: if your application only supports the HTTP protocol. HTTP & HTTPS: if your application supports both HTTP and HTTPS protocols. If you choose HTTP & HTTPS as the delivery protocols, you must enter the Minimum TLS version and set up a Digital Certificate.
Ports	Define which ports will be used by your edge application. Web servers may have different standards for HTTP or HTTPS ports. Choose one or more ports that are compatible with your web application.
Minimum TLS version	Transport Layer Security (TLS) guarantees encrypted communications between a client and a web server via HTTPS. PCI standards recommend the use of TLS 1.2 or higher. Remember, if you use new versions, some older client devices or browsers won’t be able to connect.

Origins

Origins is where you define your origin data, an essential information on your Edge Application. See what’s necessary for each field below.

Field	Description
Origin Type	The following fields refer to the Single Origin type. Because you’re creating a new Edge Application, Single Origin is the only option. After creating and saving a new Edge Application, you can turn Load Balancer on.
Address	This field defines the address in which you run your application or origin. Define the origin address of your Edge Application in FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) format. For example, origin.azion.com, or an IP address. By default, Azion will connect to your origin through port 80, for HTTP, or 443, for HTTPS. Suppose you want to configure a different port to connect to your origin. In that case, you can use the host:port notation in this field; for example, origin.azion.com:8080. See the field below to understand options for connecting to your origin Note: you can’t configure as the origin the same delivery domain used for your content delivery. The origin must have its own address.
Origin Protocol Policy	The Origin Protocol Policy defines how Azion will connect to the origin. If you choose to preserve protocol, Azion will use the same when connecting to the origin. In the reverse proxy architecture adopted by Azion, users connect to the edge nodes via HTTP or HTTPS, and you choose how you want Azion to connect to your origin: Preserve HTTP/HTTPS protocol: it’ll keep the same connection protocol (HTTP or HTTPS) and ports used by your user when accessing your content on Azion to connect to your origin. Enforce HTTP: the connection between Azion’s Edge Nodes and your origin will be through HTTP, regardless of the connection protocol (HTTP or HTTPS) and ports used by your user to access Azion’s content. With this new option, you may customize a port to your origin in the Address field different from the default port (80 for HTTP) if you wish. Enforce HTTPS: the connection between Azion’s edge nodes and your origin will be through HTTPS, regardless of the connection protocol (HTTP or HTTPS) and ports used by your user to access Azion’s content. With this new option, you may customize a port to your origin in the Address field different from the default port (443 for HTTPS) if you wish.
Host Header	This information is used to define which application should be accessed, enabling the origin server to distinguish among resources while servicing requests for multiple hostnames on a single IP address. Your origin uses the Host Header to identify the virtualhost and locate your content or Application. When setting up an origin in Real-Time Manager, you can customize the value that Azion must send in the host header. Use the value ${host} in the Host Header field if your origin is configured to answer to virtualhost for the same domain that its users use to access the content on Azion. This way, you’ll be instructing edge nodes to forward the same host header that is received from your visitors to their origin. If necessary, you can fill in a custom value for host header to be sent to your origin. For example, origin.domain.com. You must customize the host header if your origin is configured to respond to a virtualhost at a domain different than the one used by its users.

Cache Settings

In this section, you’ll define the cache options for your content. There are two types of cache:

Field	Description
Browser Cache Settings	Browser Cache is the cache of your content that is stored in your users’ browsers. You can define the time-to-live (TTL) for each content. Still, you have little autonomy to force the content to expire before the time defined as TTL, in case there is a need to change the content ahead of time.Here, you can choose between honoring or overriding cache settings. That is, the time that content should be kept in the user’s browser cache. Choose between Honor Origin Cache Headers or Override Cache Settings. Use Honor Origin Cache Headers option if you want Azion to send your users the same cache control headers Received from your origin. If you choose to Override Cache Settings, you must enter the TTL in seconds, which is how long content will stay in cache.
CDN Cache Settings	Here, you define how your content is kept in cache on Azion’s Edge Nodes. In addition setting the TTL for each type of content, you’ll be able to perform the Purge operation of the content in real time, whenever there is a need to delete the data stored in the cache. Use the Honor Origin Cache Headers option if you want Azion to respect the cache control headers received from your origin, for managing the cache on Azion’s Edge Nodes. You can also customize the CDN Cache control by selecting the Override Cache Settings option. In this case, you must define a Maximum TTL, which is the maximum lifetime (in seconds) that the content can be cached in Azion’s Edge Nodes.

Field

Description

Browser Cache Settings

Browser Cache is the cache of your content that is stored in your users’ browsers. You can define the time-to-live (TTL) for each content. Still, you have little autonomy to force the content to expire before the time defined as TTL, in case there is a need to change the content ahead of time.Here, you can choose between honoring or overriding cache settings. That is, the time that content should be kept in the user’s browser cache.

Choose between Honor Origin Cache Headers or Override Cache Settings.

Use Honor Origin Cache Headers option if you want Azion to send your users the same cache control headers Received from your origin.

If you choose to Override Cache Settings, you must enter the TTL in seconds, which is how long content will stay in cache.

CDN Cache Settings

Here, you define how your content is kept in cache on Azion’s Edge Nodes. In addition setting the TTL for each type of content, you’ll be able to perform the Purge operation of the content in real time, whenever there is a need to delete the data stored in the cache.

Use the Honor Origin Cache Headers option if you want Azion to respect the cache control headers received from your origin, for managing the cache on Azion’s Edge Nodes. You can also customize the CDN Cache control by selecting the Override Cache Settings option. In this case, you must define a Maximum TTL, which is the maximum lifetime (in seconds) that the content can be cached in Azion’s Edge Nodes.

After defining the previous information, click Save to finish this step.

Watch the details about building and setting up your edge applications in this video tutorial on Azion’s YouTube channel:

Step 4. Creating a new Domain associated with your Edge Application

Now that you have finished setting up your Edge Application, you must configure a Domain for it. This process is very important as you’ll need to have Domains configured to connect your Edge Application to other Azion products.

On Real-Time Manager (RTM), your main domain (example: myapp.com) and all your subdomains (example: user.myapp.com) must each be configured as a standalone domain.

To access the Domains configuration page, you can click on Manage your Domains from the RTM homepage. You can also find Domains on the Products Menu.

If you have just created an Edge Application in the Build from scratch process, you can find the Domains page on the What do you want to do next? section on the Launch page.

On the Domains page, you can see all your Edge Applications listed. To set up a Domain, follow the steps below:

Click on Add Domain.
In Add Configuration Name, choose a name for your domain.

You can use the same name as your domain name.
Select the Digital Certificate you’ll use — it can be the standard Azion (SAN) or any third party Digital Certificate.
Write all Canonical Names (CNAMES) your domain has.
If you want your users to access your application by CNAME only, activate the CNAME Access Only switch.
In Edge Application, select the one your Domain will be connected to from the dropdown list.
Make sure the Active switch is on.
Click the Save button.

Required fields to add a certificate on Domains

Field	Description
Digital Certificate	The usual setup is to use Azion’s certificate. If you’d like to add another certificate, go to the Products Menu on RTM and look for the Digital Certificates section. If you’ve selected HTTP & HTTPS during the creation of your Edge Application, you must select the SSL certificate that will be used to encrypt your HTTPS traffic. Azion provides the Azion (SAN) certificate that can be used for `map.azionedge.net`
CNAMEs	Configure the list of delivery domains (CNAMEs) for your content or application. If necessary, you can use a Wildcard Domain (`*.yourdomain.com`). Example: `www.azion.com` List the domains you want to use as a URL for your files by hitting enter. Thus, you replace the address provided by Azion (for example, 10001.map.azionedge.net) with the listed domains. In this case, you should register the CNAMEs in your DNS service to redirect any routes of your CNAME to those indicated by Azion. For example, replace `www.example.com` with `10001.map.azionedge.net`.
CNAME Access Only	By default, all Domain configurations are automatically assigned a domain name below map.azionedge.net By checking this option, you’ll be configuring the Edge Application to deliver your content or applications only through the domains listed in the CNAME field.
Edge Application	Select the Edge Application you want to associate with this delivery domain.

Learn more about Digital Certificates.

Step 5. Pointing your traffic to Azion

Now that you’ve associated a custom Domain Name System (DNS) with your Edge Application on RTM, you need to configure it with your DNS provider. Your DNS provider must know where to find your application and what to return to users that access myapp.com.

This process won’t simply redirect users that access myapp.com to <edge_application_id>.map.azionedge.net but link your application to your DNS — and all CNAMES associated with it.

Or, you can rely on Azion Intelligent DNS to create, host, and secure your domains. Learn more about domains and how Azion Intelligent DNS works.

If you choose to use a third-party DNS provider, such as GoDaddy, OpenDNS, Namecheap, and so on, this configuration must be completed outside Azion RTM interface and on your DNS provider user panel.

To link your application with a DNS, go to your DNS provider user panel and look for “DNS Configuration” or “DNS Manager”.

Configuration settings may change according to different providers.

Inside the DNS Manager, add the link to your Edge Application (.map.azionedge.net) on the *DNS Host Record* field.

Save it, wait a few minutes, and check to see if it works.

You can confirm the incoming traffic through Real-Time Metrics.

Your application should now be accessible by typing your DNS as a URL.

Didn’t find what you were looking for? Open a support ticket.