When the import is complete, you have the option to have your drive shipped back to you or destroyed.

When destroying the drive, we use a machine called a Degaussing Machine. A degaussing machine is a powerful electro-magnet that destroys the data on the platters by magnetizing the device, which changes the magnetic alignment. This realignment leaves the drive with random patterns and no preference to orientation. This makes the data unrecoverable. This service is an additional fee of $15 per device.

Simply contact your Cloud Files support technician, and they can get the process started for you. You will be assigned a Migration Specialist who can answer any questions you have about your import along the way.

We accept data in the most common devices and file systems:

Accepted Devices: USB, SATA, eSATA

Accepted File Systems: NTFS, ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32

Who is Akamai?

Akamai Technologies, Inc. is publicly traded: (NASDAQ: AKAM) company founded in 1998. Akamai has a pervasive, highly-distributed cloud optimization platform with over 73,000 servers in 70 countries within nearly 1,000 networks.

What will I experience when Akamai is implemented as my new CDN provider?

Rackspace expects no customer impact during your transition to Akamai. Once we flip the switch to have a customer’s content served by Akamai, Akamai will begin supporting both new URLs and all other existing CDN provider URLs.

This means that CDN customers who currently have Limelight URLs coded into their websites will continue to serve content using those URLs when they are transitioned to Akamai, but they will be distributed over the Akamai network. At this time, we do not have any plans to discontinue the legacy URLs.

If a customer requests their URL (either in the Control Panel or via API) for an object, they will be presented with a new Akamai URL. This does not mean that old URLs are invalid. However, as Rackspace releases new features like CNAME and SSL, customers will need to reference their new Akamai URL instead of their legacy URL.

Will customers have to change their code to use Akamai?

No.

Will customers have to do anything different in the control panel?

No, as we add new features, we will educate our customers.

Should customers anticipate any downtime during this implementation?

No downtime is expected during the implementation of the Akamai platform.

When will current Cloud Files CDN customers be moved over to Akamai?

Rackspace recognizes that many of our CDN customers do the majority of their business during the holidays. For this reason, we are starting to migrate customers this month (January). We expect the migration process to be complete by the end of 1Q 2011.

Will the Cloud Files API be different?

No, all customers facing API calls will remain the same.

The Wikipedia entry for CDN states: “A content delivery network or content distribution network (CDN) is a system of computers networked together across the Internet that cooperate transparently to deliver content to end users, most often for the purpose of improving performance, scalability, and cost efficiency.”

To elaborate, we have to start with the fact that the Internet is a network of networks. To get content from a server on the other side of the planet, IP packets have to travel through a whole series of backbone servers and public network cables.

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) augment the transport network by employing various techniques to optimize content delivery. It is fairly easy to see how CDNs help by digging a little deeper on how the Internet works. A trace route to an internet address tells us how many network hops a simple request takes. Following is one to Yahoo.com.

 >tracert www.yahoo.com
 Tracing route to www-real.wa1.b.yahoo.com [209.191.93.52] over a maximum of 30 hops:
 1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
 2    11 ms     9 ms     9 ms  71.145.159.254
 3    11 ms     9 ms     9 ms  99.171.168.33
 4    11 ms     9 ms     9 ms  bb1-10g0-0.aus2tx.sbcglobal.net [151.164.188.145]
 5    16 ms    19 ms    16 ms  ex2-p14-1.eqdltx.sbcglobal.net [151.164.242.42]
 6    16 ms    16 ms    18 ms  asn10310-10-yahoo.eqdltx.sbcglobal.net [151.164.250.10]
 7    19 ms    17 ms   106 ms  ae2-p101.msr1.mud.yahoo.com [216.115.104.107]
 8    18 ms    18 ms    17 ms  te-8-1.bas-c1.mud.yahoo.com [68.142.193.5]
 9    18 ms    18 ms    17 ms  f1.www.vip.mud.yahoo.com [209.191.93.52]
 Trace complete.

Additional hops mean more time to render data from a request on the user’s browser. The speed of delivery is also constrained by the slowest network in the chain. The solution is a CDN that places servers around the world and, depending on where the end user is located, serves them with the closest or most appropriate server. CDNs cut down on the hops back and forth to handle a request. This is shown in the figures below.

Technology

CDNs focus on improving performance of web page delivery. CDNs like Akamai's support progressive downloads, which optimizes delivery of digital assets such as web page images. CDN nodes and servers are deployed in multiple locations around the globe over multiple internet backbones. These nodes cooperate with each other to satisfy data requests by end users, transparently moving content to optimize the delivery process. The larger the size and scale of their Edge Network deployments, the better the CDN.

They generally push the Edge Network closer to end users. The Edge Network is grown outward from the origins by purchasing co-location facilities, bandwidth, and servers. CDNs choose the best location for serving content while optimizing for performance. They may choose locations that are the fewest hops or fewest number of network seconds away from the requesting client. CDNs choose the least expensive locations while optimizing for cost. CDNs use various techniques such as web caching, server-load balancing, and request routing to achieve the optimization goals.

Because closer is better, web caches store popular content closer to the user. These shared network appliances reduce bandwidth requirements, reduce server load, and improve the client response times for content stored in the cache.

Server-load balancing uses a web switch, content switch, or multilayer switch to share traffic among a number of servers or web caches. Here, the switch is assigned a single virtual IP address. Traffic arriving at the switch is then directed to one of the real web servers attached to the switch. This has the advantages of balancing load, increasing total capacity, improving scalability, and providing increased reliability by redistributing the load of a failed web server and providing server health checks.

Request routing directs client requests to the content source best able to serve the request. This may involve directing a client request to the service node that is closest to the client, or to the one with the most capacity. A variety of algorithms for Global Server Load Balancing (shown in diagram) are used to route the request. Choosing the closest service node is done using a variety of techniques including proactive probing and connection monitoring.

For more information, see What are the benefits of using a CDN?

There is a growing list of tools and extensions. A sampling is as follows.

CDN Tools is a WordPress plug-in that allows you to load javascript and media files to Cloud Files to drastically speed page loads. CDN Tools has been designed to be as easy to use as possible – simply activate the plug-in, save your credentials, and click “load files”. Once the initial load is complete all your files will be automatically served from Cloud Files and all future attachment uploads will transparently sideload. Link: http://swearingscience.com/cdn-tools/

Cyberduck is a full-featured browser to publish your content on Cloud Files and manage your CDN distributions with a click of a button. Access your Rackspace Cloud Files remote storage using the familiar Cyberduck browser interface to create containers and upload content using drag and drop. Create a distribution to register that container with the Akamai's Content Distribution Network through using the Info panel of the browser that displays the CDN URL. Distribution can be toggled on or off at any time. Supporting the latest and greatest version of the Cloud Files protocol, you can also browse hierarchical pseudo-folder structures. Link: http://cyberduck.ch/

Fireuploader is a nifty tool to manage the files on Cloud. It provides a user-friendly interface to download/upload files to the cloud. It also allows users to set properties of the uploaded files like CDN and headers etc. It has all the features supported by Rackspace Cloud Files as of now. Link: http://www.fireuploader.com,

Django-Cloudfiles is an extension to the management system of Django, the popular website framework. Django-Cloudfiles lets you synchronize the static content directory of your Django-powered website to your Cloudfiles account effortlessly. Django-Cloudfiles is…Cool! 1. it only uploads files that have been modified (but can force upload-all) 2. it can create a new container for you 3. it preserves your file hierarchy by naming your remote files such that they emulate nested directories: no need to flatten your existing structure! 4. it lets you store credentials in your site’s configuration file (for easy use) or specify them on the command line (for greater security) 5. it ignores files you probably don’t want to upload, like .DS_Store, .git, Thumbs.db, etc. Original! 6. plug-ins for the Django management system do exist (e.g. django-extensions), but none integrate with Cloudfiles yet (or any CDN to my knowledge) Easy! 7. a dead simple drop-in (no coding necessary) 8. no external dependancies required Going to be Popular! 9. Django is all about reusability; Django developers always look for an existing solution first (like this one)! 10. Django is gaining steam: it’s supported by Google App Engine, and it is gaining traction. Link: http://github.com/rossdakin/django-cloudfiles/

Media manager plug-in will mirror your media library to your Cloud Files CDN. All URL’s to this content will use the Cloud Files path when you insert them via the media manager. You can import all of your media to the CDN. Link: http://cdn.cloudfiles.mosso.com/c61072/cloudfiles-wordpress-media.zip.

New tools are added constantly - Check out Cloud Tools

Eight Steps to begin using Cloud Files and CDN

1. Sign-up for Cloud Files at https://www.rackspacecloud.com/signup
2. Log in to the Control Panel
3. Navigate to Hosting->Cloud Files section
4. Generate a API access key when prompted to do so.
5. Return to Cloud Files in the control panel. Create a new Container using the Add Container menu button.
6. Upload files to the container from local computer by clicking on the File Upload button.
7. Click on the Container and check the Publish to CDN in the CDN & Metadata pane.
8. Use the CDN URL shown in the CDN & Metadata pane to view the resource file served over Akamai's CDN! e.g. http://c00000.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/test.img

This information is intended to get customers started quickly on Cloud Files.  This guide is intended to provide a high level conceptual overview and general instructions to enable you to get started quickly and serve content over Akamai's CDN service.  Cloud Files from The Rackspace Cloud is an offering which allows you to store data on the Rackspace infrastructure.  A control panel allows customers to accomplish most tasks for managing data.  Key Concepts are documented in an article, but in a nutshell they are as follows.

• Cloud Files is a “cloud” storage system and not a traditional file system.
• Customers need to create “Containers” in the storage system to store data.
• You cannot create Containers within other Containers.
• Customers can have any number of top level Containers.
• Your data is stored in “Objects” within those Containers.
• You can have any number of Objects within a Container.
• Objects can vary in size from a few bytes to very large.
• Customers can interact with Cloud Files through the Rackspace Cloud Control Panel or language specific programming interfaces.

Cloud Files Usage Scenarios

There are a number of basic usage scenarios for Cloud Files.  We have classified them based on user objectives.

For Application Developers

• A development guide is available at Github
• Check out a Sample PHP Application

For Content Providers and Website Designers

• Use Cloud Files to serve static content for websites
• Check out some Cloud Files tools which can improve website performance and scalability.

For IT Managers

• Check out some Cloud Files tools which can ease day to day operations such as data backup and archival.

For all users

• Getting the key to use Cloud Files

• Uploading content to a container using a tool like Fire Uploader

Additional Cloud Files Resources

• Video Overview
• Language specific help (Ruby ,ReST, Python, PHP, C#/.NET, or Java)

First you must make sure you have generated a valid API Access Key. Then you can use either the Cloud Files user interface in the Rackspace Cloud Control Panel or one of our programming interfaces.

Please see the How do I use Cloud Files and CDN? Knowledge Center article for more details.

There are a number of reasons to choose the Cloud Files service over similar services available in the market.

• Simplicity of CDN functionality.
• Utility pricing - paying only for what you use, after you use it.
• Multiple APIs for developers to choose from.
• Fast and reliable performance.
• World class support

Simplicity

Cloud Files is simple to use for developers and non-developers alike. Users can get started in as little as five minutes. Users do not have to know how to code to use Cloud Files and CDN. Users can, within minutes, sign up for Cloud Files, create a Container, upload a file and publish that Container’s content through the CDN (Refer to “Cloud Files with CDN QuickStart guide”. The Cloud Files GUI is easy to navigate and use. Rackspace browser based control panel let users easily upload files and distribute on a CDN without writing any code.

All the content can be backed by a CDN without complex negotiations and details of updating content for optimizing delivery. Given the complexity of the CDN, users may have to make a series of choices such as number of servers to use etc. before obtaining the service. After making the choices users must ensure the usage bills are accurate. All these issues are handled by Cloud Files. CDNs have, in the past, been the prerogative of companies with more money but Cloud Files has changed that.

Cloud Files is a user and developer friendly service. Security mechanisms described in more detail in the Security section are simple to use. Third party tools which further simplify use of the storage service are available. Developers can use a language specific application programming interfaces to develop utilities or applications. The API’s are easy to use and are documented with examples to get started quickly.

Affordability

Pricing for Cloud Files with CDN is comprised of the amount of total data you have stored (per GB), and the amount of bandwidth used to serve the data (outbound bandwidth only, charged per GB to any edge location on the CDN around the globe). There are no 'per request' fees for CDN.  The current pricing for Cloud Files can always be found on our website.

Flexibility

Cloud Files is a dynamically expanding storage system very flexible and is built on the pay for use principle. Customers can use as much or little storage as necessary, while paying only for storage space used. There is no limit on total space use and individual files can range in size from a few bytes to extremely large. The GUI control panel allows users to check storage space used and bandwidth utilized. There are no upfront fees or contracts and end users pay only for storage space used and outgoing bandwidth that they use.

System administrators can use this for simple manual updates as well. Users do not have to know how to code to use Cloud Files and CDN. No API is required to share files. Non-developers have a simple web-interface, that can be used to quickly and easily upload data and enable CDN access. There are multiple third party tools (refer to Tools and Applications section) which make it even more flexible for users of specific environments such as the Mac OS.

Developers can use the ReST web service and language-speicifc API’s in PHP, Python, Java, Ruby, and C#/.NET. The API's provide full support for managing content in Cloud Files and publishing content over the CDN. The API allow developers to work in the language they feel most comfortable

Superior performance

Rackspace has built networks with superior performance for years. The Akamai CDN capability improves the performance further for distribution of digital content. In short, Akamai can bring data closer to end users and serve popular content faster.

World Class support

With Cloud Files world-class free technical support is only a click away. Live support, with real people is available 24/7. Fanatical Support is built into the price. Users can get peace of mind knowing that technical support is just a phone call or online chat away – at any time of the day.

Data Redundancy

The Cloud Files storage system is designed to be highly available and fault tolerant. Cloud Files achieves client data redundancy by replicating three full copies on different storage nodes. Storage nodes are grouped in logical Zones within Rackspace datacenters. Zones are connected to redundant Internet backbone providers and reside on redundant power supplies and generators. The system has been engineered in such a way as to continue to by fully functional even in the event of a major service disruption within a Datacenter. Content on the CDN provides an additional layer of data redundancy.

Security

Cloud Files uses a number of different measures to ensure that your data is kept safe. First and foremost, all traffic between clients and the Cloud Files system uses SSL to establish a secure, encrypted communication channel. This ensures that any data (usernames, passwords, and content) cannot be intercepted and read by a third-party. Users authenticate with a valid username and API Access Key and are granted a session authentication token. These authentication tokens are used to validate all operations against Cloud Files. There is no way to terminate a valid session by the user, but the session tokens will automatically expire after 24 hours, forcing clients to resend their credentials.

The API Access Key is only available from within the Rackspace Cloud’s control panel. Users must enter their valid username and password to gain access to view the API Access Key or to generate a new key.

It is important to note that Cloud Files does not apply any transformations to data before storing it. This means that Cloud Files *will not* store data in encrypted form unless the client encrypts it prior to transmission. This allows users to select the type and level of encryption best suited for their application.

When deleting storage Objects from the Cloud Files system, all copies of data are permanently removed within a matter of minutes. Furthermore, the physical blocks making up the customer’s data is zeroed over before that space is re-used for other customer data. In other words, after a delete request, the data will be unrecoverable.