striketracker v1.5.1 user guide · 2009-10-03 · 3 cdn portal user guide 1. striketracker overview...

StrikeTracker v1.5.1

User Guide

September 2008

2 CDN Portal User Guide

Table of Contents 1. STRIKETRACKER OVERVIEW ............................................................................................. 3

2. STRIKETRACKER COMPONENTS ........................................................................................ 4

2.1 ANALYTICS ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.1 ANALYTICS DASHBOARDS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................... 5 2.1.2 ANALYTICS MEASUREMENTS .................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.3 CUSTOMIZABLE CHARTS .......................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.4 ACCOUNT OVERVIEW DASHBOARD ........................................................................................................ 7 2.1.5 MARKETING DASHBOARD ....................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.6 USAGE DASHBOARD .............................................................................................................................. 10 2.1.7 LIVE STREAMING DASHBOARD .............................................................................................................. 11 2.1.8 GLOBAL DASHBOARD ............................................................................................................................ 12

2.2 CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS) .................................................................................................... 13 2.2.1 CONTENT MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW ................................................................................................... 13 2.2.2 CMS CONFIGURATION DIALOG ............................................................................................................. 15 2.2.3 CONTENT PROTECTION ......................................................................................................................... 15 2.2.4 ORIGIN PULL .......................................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.5 VIRTUAL HOSTING ................................................................................................................................. 18

2.3 LIVE EVENT ADMINISTRATION ..................................................................................................................... 19 2.4 CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATION ..................................................................................................................... 21

2.4.1 CUSTOMER ADMINISTRATION OVERVIEW ............................................................................................ 21 2.5 SERVICE CLASS ADMINISTRATION ................................................................................................................ 24

2.5.1 SERVICE CLASS OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................... 24 2.6 USER ADMINISTRATION ............................................................................................................................... 26

2.6.1 USER SECURITY SETTINGS ...................................................................................................................... 26 2.6.2 USERS OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................. 27

3. UPDATES, FEEDBACK & NEW FEATURE REQUESTS ......................................................... 29


1. StrikeTracker Overview

All account configuration settings and content management functions are managed through StrikeTracker. Through StrikeTracker, customers have access to the same powerful tools used inside the customer support center for account tracking, maintenance, provisioning, and reporting. With emphasis on user‐friendly design and navigation, StrikeTracker keeps all aspects of customer CDN management simple and fast.

This User Guide provides you with the information needed to get up and running with minimal time, and explains all of the advanced features that are exposed at various points throughout the interface.

Each account owner can:

View and track network usage with real‐time analytics Add, manage, or purge content for any CDN service Create live event publishing points Handle and track billing for customer accounts and sub‐accounts Fully provision new customers and their CDN services instantly

Each new CDN customer is provided with a username and password that can be used to access StrikeTracker in the welcome package. For immediate access, login to your account now at:

http://striketracker.highwinds.com

To arrange a portal demonstration or training session, or for general assistance, please contact your technical consulting team.


2. StrikeTracker Components

The CDN management portal offers a comprehensive suite of self‐service tools for administrating CDN services. Each set of tools is divided in to one or more sections or views based upon the area of the CDN that they administrate.

This chapter of the User Guide describes each of these sections in detail. You may read through the entire chapter to get a comprehensive overview of StrikeTracker’s offerings, or jump directly to the section that interests you if you need to quickly administrate a particular CDN service.


2.1 Analytics As the CDN is being used, analytics data is captured constantly in real time. This information is available for you to view in the analytics dashboards under the Home tab. In order for the Home tab to be visible, your user account must have the Reporting permission enabled.

2.1.1 Analytics Dashboards Summary

Several analytics dashboards are available for you to use. Each dashboard is targeted to a particular style of data analysis. A list of the available dashboards is presented below.

Account Overview Gives you summarized information about your CDN account.

Marketing Provides CDN usage data broken down by region.

Usage Provides an in‐depth look at CDN usage for a particular time period.

Live Streaming Shows real time usage information as soon as it is available from the CDN (typically within 15‐30 seconds from the time that the information was collected, though accounts with low traffic levels can take up to 2 minutes).

Global Uses a 3‐D globe to display the locations in the world to which the CDN is serving your content. Hits are shown by spikes projecting outward from the globe. Larger spikes represent more traffic, and are proportional to overall traffic levels.

2.1.2 Analytics Measurements

The CDN captures a number of measurements in its analytics data points. The list below describes each measurement in detail, and should be referred to in order to better understand the analytics information being presented in the dashboards.

Actual Transfer The amount of data moved by the CDN during the time period specified.

Completion Ratio The number of bytes actually sent to the end user divided by the number of bytes they requested. This measurement can be used to determine how often end users close their browsers and stop requesting the file before the full file is delivered.


Transfer Rate The speed of data transfer by the CDN (in Gbps, Mbps, etc).

Duration How much time the CDN spent delivering content to end users.

Hits The number of unique end‐user requests during the selected time period.

2.1.3 Customizable Charts

Most of the information visualized in the analytics dashboards is done so using customizable charts. Understanding how to use these charts will allow you to get the most out of the analytics data being displayed. A customizable chart is presented below.

There are five controls across the top of the chart. These controls are described below, referencing the chart shown here in order from left to right. Each chart supports different customization options. Depending on the level of customization available, some of these controls may not be shown.

• Product Selector Tells the chart which CDN service they want to view analytics data for.

• Chart Type Selector Tell the chart how to visualize itself, including area, bar, line, pie, plot, and list views.

• Measurement Selector Determines which measurement is being visualized. The available measurements differ depending on the product being displayed, since not all measurements are appropriate for all services. Please see the section on measurement for more information.

• Interval/Time Range Selector Tells the chart to display analytics data for the last 36 hours, 45 days, or 24 months.

• Export to Comma‐Separated Value (CSV) Control Enables the user to download the analytics data as a CSV file. This file can then be imported in to another software tool for further analysis, such as Microsoft Excel.


2.1.4 Account Overview Dashboard

The Account Overview dashboard is the first thing a user will see when they log in to the administration portal. Each item available on the dashboard is described in detail below.

Usage Summary The Usage Summary gives the user a snapshot of their Network Usage, Storage Usage, and Storage In Use. These terms are described below.

Network Usage Total bytes transferred for each service (CDS, WMS, and FMS) since the last billing event. For CDN, this value reports all HTTP traffic (including video progressive‐download) delivered for this account. For FMS and WMS, this value reports the true streaming traffic delivered for this account.


Storage Usage Total storage used for each service since the last billing event, measured in Gigabytes (GB). Gigabytes are accumulated daily, based upon the value of Storage In Use.

Storage In Use Total storage currently in use for each service measured in Gigabytes (GB). This value reports the storage for all files stored in the CDN for each service.

Percentage of Total CDN Usage Per Product Line: Last 36 Hours This chart shows the user the total percentage of Duration and Transfer for each service being used on their account by the CDN. This graph allows the user to see where the majority of data transfer and delivery duration is taking place on their account, and how these measurements compare for each CDN service.

Clicking on the Duration or Transfer column in this graph causes the mini chart to the bottom‐right of to show detailed statistics on an hour‐by‐hour basis for the product and measurement represented by the column that was clicked.

Top 20 Files for CDS: Last 36 Hours This grid displays the top 20 most popular files being delivered by the CDS service over the last 36 hours, along with the measurements for the total number of hits and bytes transferred during this time. The file path for each file in the top 20 is also displayed.

Customizable Chart At the bottom‐right of the Account Overview is a customizable chart that can be used to view any measurement for the CDN on any available service over the last 36 hours, 45 days, or 24 months.


2.1.5 Marketing Dashboard

The Marketing dashboard is accessed from the left navigation bar in the Home tab. Each item available on the dashboard is described in detail below.

Map The map displays all the countries for which the CDN captures traffic. The user can select a country by clicking on it, which causes the customizable charts to the bottom‐right of the map to display detailed analytics measurements for that specific region. The user can configure the service, chart type, time period, and measurement they wish to view in each of the customizable charts.

CDS Transfer for Top 20 Regions: Last 36 Hours This data grid displays the top 20 regions to which content is being served by the CDS service. In addition to the region being served, this grid also displays the amount of transfer for that region.


2.1.6 Usage Dashboard

The Usage dashboard is accessed from the left navigation bar in the Home tab. The usage dashboard provides a “master” chart at the top of the page, with four smaller “detail” charts below.

Using the controls on the master chart, the user can select which CDN service and time period they wish to view, along with a measurement and chart type for the master chart. As the service and time period on the master chart are changed, the detail charts update themselves accordingly to display the same service and time period. The user can also configure each detail chart to display the measurement and chart type they wish to view.


2.1.7 Live Streaming Dashboard

The Live Streaming dashboard is accessed from the left navigation bar in the Home tab.

The Live Streaming dashboard provides real‐time information for live streaming products. When a live event is in progress, the user can watch this dashboard to see it update periodically with information from the CDN.

All of the customizable charts on this dashboard can be set to display the chart type and measurement that the user is interested in.


2.1.8 Global Dashboard

The Global dashboard is accessed from the left navigation bar in the Home tab.

From this dashboard, the same regional data available in the Marketing dashboard is visualized on a three‐dimensional globe. Data points are represented as red beams of light emanating from the globe. The longer the beam of light, the more hits are coming to the CDN from that region.

The user can control the magnification, rotation speed, and horizontal/vertical rotation of the globe using the controls at the bottom of the screen. They can also tell the globe to move automatically or stay still. Finally, the globe can be visualized in full screen mode.


2.2 Content Management System (CMS)

StrikeTracker provides full administration capabilities for the files on the CDN using a graphical user interface similar to that found on a desktop PC. Using this interface, users can see the files available in the network infrastructure, and administrate them by previewing, renaming, moving, and deleting them as they see fit.

Files up to 100MB in size can also be uploaded directly to the CDN via StrikeTracker. Larger files can be uploaded via FTP. Files uploaded in this fashion are instantly propagated to all CDN POPs and are available for consumption by end users immediately. Likewise, when files are renamed or deleted, the changes take effect on the CDN right away.

2.2.1 Content Management Overview

The user interface for the content management system is presented below.


User Interface Layout for the Content Management Section The CMS is laid out with a tree browser on the left and a viewing area to the right. Above the viewing area is a toolbar containing buttons to perform content management operations.

Tree Browser This window shows the full tree view of the directory structure being navigated by the user. The user can browse the root directories and nested directories that lead to the content displayed in the viewing area.

Viewing Area This window displays the directory that will be edited if the user performs any of the content management operations. In this window, users can select a file system object (such as a file or folder) to view specific object properties including the file size, type, name, URL for publishing (both transparent and opaque), date created, and date last modified.

Content Management Operation Toolbar/Buttons The various content management operation buttons are described in detail below.

• Views Toggles the folder between detailed and summary views.

• Refresh Refreshes the viewing area. This is useful to see changes to the CDN that may not have taken place through StrikeTracker, such as files being ingested via FTP or Origin Pull.

• Home Navigates the viewing area to the root folder.

• Up Arrow Navigates the viewing area to the folder above the current folder.

• Delete Immediately purges the file from the CDN.

• New Folder Creates a new folder. The user is prompted to enter the name of the new folder.

• Rename Used to rename a file or folder. The item to be renamed must be selected.

• Upload This operation launches an upload dialog for adding one or more files to the CDN. Files


uploaded through this form are instantly propagated to all network nodes. Each file uploaded through this form must be smaller than 100MB. If users wish to upload files larger than 100MB in size, they can use the FTP protocol using an FTP client of choice. For more information on FTP delivery, please contact your Technical Consultant.

2.2.2 CMS Configuration Dialog

The CDN management portal provides several powerful options for configuring objects on the CMS. These options allow you to take advantage of advanced CDN features such as Content Protection and Virtual Hosting.

To access these features, simply select a File System Object (such as a File or Folder) and click the “Properties” button in the Content Management Operation Toolbar. You will be presented with a configuration dialog with several tabs granting you access to these features.

For each advanced configuration option, there is a tab that can be accessed to set the properties for that option. The default tab is labeled “General” and gives you basic information on the selected File System Object.

NOTE: Some features mentioned in this section are not available to all accounts. If you do not have access to an operation that you require, please contact your account management team.

2.2.3 Content Protection

Content Protection allows you to restrict access to content on the CDN using a variety of methods.

By default, permissions for content on the CDN are inherited from the parent Folder. This means that if you apply a protection policy to any of the root Folders (CDS, FMS, or WMS) it will apply automatically to all objects in any subfolders. If you want to specify a custom policy for a subfolder, simply uncheck the “Inherit from Parent” checkbox and define the policies that you want to use.

The various methods for protecting content are described below. Note that multiple policies may be active on a Folder’s contents at the same time to provide additional security.


• HTTP Referrer Restriction This policy only allows access to the content if the HTTP Referrer (i.e. the server or web page that referred the user to the content) matches an entry in the list of URLs specified. To apply an HTTP Referrer Restriction, simply press the “Add New” button and follow the instructions in the dialog box. Removing an HTTP Referrer Restriction is just as easy; simply select the URL you want to remove, and click the “Remove Selected” button. Support for wildcards is provided with this mechanism. For instance, the URL http://*.test.com/* will match any referrers from the test.com domain.

• URL Signing This policy is based upon a pass phrase that is shared between the CDN and the account holder. The account holder indicates a field name and secret key that are used to construct a URL of the form [base URL to content]?passPhraseField=passPhrase which is then hashed using the MD5 algorithm to produce a token. The URL is then re‐generated following the form [base URL to content]?authField=token. When this URL is presented to the CDN (which also knows the secret), the token is generated using the same process that the URL builder followed. If the two tokens match, then the URL builder has demonstrated knowledge of the secret and the content is served. Otherwise, the CDN returns an HTTP response code of 403 Forbidden. To prevent replay attacks, an expiration TTL is also supported.

• HTTP Basic Authentication This policy requires that the client be able to supply credentials to an HTTP challenge/response request. To configure an HTTP Basic Authentication policy, click the “Settings” button and follow the instructions in the dialog that pops up.

2.2.4 Origin Pull

Origin Pull allows a user to host their content off of the CDN on an Origin Server. The first time the content is requested by a client coming in through the CDN, the CDN will pull the content from the Origin Server and store it for future requests. This strategy is convenient when CDN users have large files/numbers of files and want to make sure they make use of their storage allocation on an as‐needed basis.

Since the Origin Pull content on the Origin Server may change over time, the user can specify policies to automatically check the content on a periodic basis to see if it has changed. This allows the CDN to refresh its cached copy of the content when changes occur.

Finally, the Origin Pull content may also be set to expire if CDN clients have not requested it for some time. If content


expires, the CDN removes it, freeing up the storage allocation. Origin Pull is disabled by default. To enable it, click the checkbox labeled “Enable Origin Pull.” There are a number of properties that can be configured for Origin Pull, described in detail below.

• Primary Host The user can specify an Origin Pull hostname, which is simply a server address or IP address to the Origin Server hosting the content.

• Primary Username/Password Some Origin Servers will be configured to require HTTP challenge/response authentication in order to be accessed. The credentials for the Primary Host can be specified in these fields.

• Secondary Host/Username/Password A secondary host may be provided. This host will be used by the CDN as the Origin Server in the event that the Primary Host is unavailable. These settings are identical to the Primary Host’s settings, with the exception that they configure the values for the Secondary Host instead.

• Expiration Policy There are several policies available to determine when the CDN should consider the content pulled from the Origin Server stale.

o Never: The content never expires. Once the file has been pulled from the Origin Server, the CDN will hold on to it indefinitely.

o Cache Control: The CDN will respect the HTTP cache control headers for the file. The content will expire according to the settings present in the cache control headers present when the file is initially pulled from the Origin Server.

o Last Modify: The last modified date of the file will be examined to determine if the content is stale. When this setting is used, the user must specify a time period after which the content should expire. Example: the last modified date on a file is set to January 1st, 2008. The user has specified an Expiration Time of 10 days. The CDN will consider the content stale on January 11th, 2008 and will request a fresh copy at some time during that day.

o Ingest: The time of ingest will be examined to determine if the content is stale. When this setting is used, the user must specify a time period after which the content should expire.

• Refresh Policy

The Refresh Policy determines how often the CDN will check for fresh content once the


cached copy of the content has expired. If no Refresh Interval is specified, the CDN will check the copy of the content on the Origin Server for updates at a time determined by the CDN (based upon factors such as system load).

o Refresh Interval: The Refresh Interval determines how soon the CDN should check for fresh content after the content expires.

o Refresh Offset: The Refresh Offset tells the CDN to offset the period of time specified in the Refresh Interval by a certain amount. In this way, it complements the Refresh Interval by allowing additional variation to be introduced to the schedule used by the CDN to check for fresh content.

For example, if a Refresh Offset of 4 Hours is specified, the CDN will check for fresh content 4 hours after the Refresh Interval time expires. When the Refresh Interval expires once again, the CDN will wait 4 hours before checking for fresh content. Thus, specifying a Refresh Offset introduces a rolling offset to the Refresh Interval time.

2.2.5 Virtual Hosting

By using Virtual Hosting, a user can specify a URL that deep‐links in to the CDN file system to access content. This technique can be used to create vanity domains, or to provide a path to content that is shorter than the real path that exists on the CDN.

NOTE: In order for Virtual Hosting to work correctly, the user must configure a CNAME entry in the DNS record for the domain used as the Virtual Host.

To configure Virtual Hosting, simply check the checkbox labeled “Enable” and specify the domain name or IP address to be used as the Virtual Host. So long as the CNAME is correctly configured for the domain specified, Virtual Hosting will go into effect immediately. Customers may host content under any path that they choose, within one of the platform

folders; /cds/path/to/content, for example. Normally, this content would be accessible via the URL http://hwcdn.net/accountid/cds/path/to/content/, where accountid is a customer’s unique account ID. A Virtual Host for the URL www.mydomain.com can be set up to point directly to any portion of the path; in this example, the folder named content, for instance. Users may now access the content under the content Folder by going to http://www.mydomain.com/ directly, instead of having to use the full path to the content. For example, If a file named movie.flv was placed under the path /cds/path/to/content/movie.flv, it could be accessed either by the URL http://hwcdn.net/accountid/cds/path/to/content/movie.flv or by the v‐hosted URL http://www.mydomain.com/movie.flv.


2.3 Live Event Administration

You no longer have to wade through a manual workflow in order to provision a Live Event; you can do so instantly on your own time using a simple suite of Live Event administration tools.

The Live Event view is displayed below.

User Interface Layout for the Live Event Section The Live Event user interface consists of a view selector on the left with a viewing area on the right. Above the viewing area is a toolbar containing buttons for performing Live Event administration operations.

View Selector The View Selector is used to switch between several views of the Live Event information available for the account being displayed. To select a view, the user can either select the radio


button for the desired view type or cycle through the views in a set order by pressing the “Views” button in the toolbar above the Viewing Area.

Viewing Area This area shows details for the Live Events under this account organized according to the view selected in the View Selector. To initiate a Live Event operation, such as “Delete”, the user first selects the target Live Event by clicking on the row, card, or icon (based upon the view type being used) representing the Live Event they wish to perform the operation against. The user then presses the button in the toolbar related to the operation they wish to perform, and follows the instructions in the dialog window that appears.

Special List View for Live Events Live Events are provisioned against URLs that usually need to be taken from StrikeTracker and copy/pasted to other software applications used for publishing and ingesting live content. Once in the List view, simply roll your mouse pointer over the Live Event that contains the URL you wish to copy. A “Copy” button will appear to the left of the URL. Clicking this button will copy the URL to your clipboard so that you can paste it in to another application. When not hovering over the Live Event, this “Copy” button hides itself so that as much of the full URL as possible is visible.

Live Event Operation Toolbar/Buttons Using the buttons available in the toolbar above the Viewing Area, users can create new Live Events and delete existing ones.

• New Live Event Using this operation causes a dialog to appear, guiding you through the Live Event creation process. Following completion of this process, the Live Event will become available on the CDN at the time specified in the configuration.

• Delete Use this operation to delete a Live Event. This operation cannot be undone, so as a safeguard the user will be prompted to confirm the deletion before it is executed. Following execution of this operation, the Live Event is removed immediately from the CDN.


2.4 Customer Administration

The CDN management portal can be used to instantly provision new customer accounts and administrate existing accounts on the CDN. Whenever a new customer is created using StrikeTracker, their accounts are enabled immediately.

2.4.1 Customer Administration Overview

The Customer Administration view is shown below.

User Interface Layout for the Customer Administration Section The Customer Administration user interface consists of a view selector on the left with a viewing area on the right. Above the viewing area is a toolbar containing buttons for performing Customer administration operations.


View Selector The View Selector is used to switch between several views of the Customer information available for the account being displayed. These views are specialized to different functions, such as viewing CDN usage for each Customer or determining billing balances.

The Customer Viewing Area can be organized in a number of ways. The user can either select the radio button for the desired view type or cycle through the views by pressing the “Views” button in the toolbar above the Viewing Area.

• Summary Cards View and By Name View Show customers organized by their contact information and company name.

• By Account Balance This view shows Customers sorted in descending order by their current balance due. NOTE: The billable balances are counted independently per Customer until a billing event is initiated for that Customer, such as the one performed using the "Bill Now" button.

• By Network Usage This view shows bytes transferred, price per GB, and total transfer balance for each CDN service.

• By Storage Usage This view shows the storage used, price per unit, and total storage balance for each CDN service.

• Icons Displays customers using an icon.

• Tiles Displays each customer by name using a tile format.

Viewing Area This area shows details for the Customers under this account organized according to the view selected in the View Selector. To initiate a Customer operation, such as “Bill Now” or “Pay Bill”, the user first selects the target Customer by clicking on the row, card, or icon (based upon the view type being used) representing the Customer they wish to perform the operation against. The user then presses the button in the toolbar related to the operation they wish to perform, and follows the instructions in the dialog window that appears. Customer information can be updated by double‐clicking on any Customer. The user is presented with an edit dialog and may make changes accordingly.


Customer Operation Toolbar/Buttons Using the buttons available in the toolbar above the Viewing Area, users can set up sub‐accounts, administrate Customer information for existing sub‐accounts, perform billing operations, and revoke access to CDN services.

• Views Toggles the Customer Viewing Area through the view options listed in the View Selector. See the section on the View Selector for more information.

• Delete This operation removes a customer account from the CDN. This operation must be used with care, since it cannot be undone once performed. As a safeguard, the user is prompted to confirm this operation before it is executed.

• New Customer Clicking this button opens a dialog that allows the user to create a new Customer. After the Customer has been created, StrikeTracker automatically provisions all CDN services for this new sub‐account. The new sub‐account can be accessed using the credentials supplied during the provisioning process.

• Bill Now This operation is used to bill the Customer's outstanding balance. At the user's discretion, either the entire outstanding balance or just the balance through a specific date can be billed.

• Pay Bill Using this feature, a user can enter a payment received from the Customer into the balance tracking system. The amount entered is subtracted from the Customer's balance only. The billable fields will continue to accrue for new services until a new billing event is initiated using the "Bill Now" operation.

• Toggle Status Customer accounts exist in one of two statuses: "active" or "suspended". Using this operation, the user can toggle the Customer's status between these two states. Suspended Customers are immediately revoked of CDN delivery services until their status is reinstated as "active".


2.5 Service Class Administration

The Service Class view is presented below.

2.5.1 Service Class Overview

Service Classes are reseller‐defined pricing packages for CDN services. Each Service Class sets a per‐unit price for Gigabytes of data transferred on the network and Gigabytes of data stored on the network. Customers are assigned a Service Class when their account is created. The design of Service Classes is extremely flexible to accommodate almost any billing model. Two best practices are advocated with regard to Service Class creation. In the first approach, resellers define one Service Class for each customer, allowing full customization of pricing for that specific customer’s needs. The second approach is a tiered model where each customer is put in to one option from a set of Service Class tiers such as Platinum, Gold, or Silver. Of course, resellers can mix and match their Service Class designations based upon their own individual pricing strategy.


After logging in, each reseller customer will see a balance that is calculated using their CDN usage according to the pricing units in the Service Class to which they are assigned.

User Interface Layout for the Service Class Section The Service Class user interface consists of a view selector on the left with a viewing area on the right. Above the viewing area is a toolbar containing buttons for performing Service Class administration operations.

View Selector The View Selector is used to switch between several views of the Service Class information available for the account being displayed. Service Classes can be viewed as summary cards, by name, as icons, or as tiles.

Viewing Area This area shows details for the Service Classes under this account organized according to the view selected in the View Selector. To initiate a Service Class operation, such as “Delete”, the user first selects the target Service Class by clicking on the row, card, or icon (based upon the view type being used) representing the Service Class they wish to perform the operation against. The user then presses the button in the toolbar related to the operation they wish to perform, and follows the instructions in the dialog window that appears. Service Class information can be updated by double‐clicking on any Service Class.

Service Class Operation Toolbar/Buttons Using the buttons available in the toolbar above the Viewing Area, users can set up Service Classes, administrate pricing for existing Service Classes, and delete Service Classes from the CDN.

• Views Toggles the Service Class view area through the view options listed in the View Selector.

• Delete Removes a Service Class from the system. This operation cannot be undone. As a safeguard, the user is prompted to confirm the delete operation before it is executed. NOTE: Service Classes that are assigned to an active customer cannot be deleted.

• Create New Service Class This operation can be used to add new Service Class pricing package options. Each Service Class can be customized with specific pricing for each CDN transfer and storage service. Pricing is entered per unit (GB transferred for network transfer or per GB stored for CDN storage).


2.6 User Administration

While the management portal makes administration of the CDN easy enough for one person to do by themselves, many times organizations will distribute responsibilities amongst several users. To meet these needs, StrikeTracker makes it possible to create multiple users and to give them as much or as little access as required to perform their job function.

2.6.1 User Security Settings

By default, the first user associated with StrikeTracker (the administrative user) is given full permissions to the system. The administrator can then opt to create additional user accounts. These users can also be given full system access, or their access can be restricted to a more restrictive set of privileges.

There are a number of access levels available, listed below. For each permission there is the option to set the privilege as “Read”, “Edit”, or “None”. Users with “Read” permissions can only view the information, while those with “Edit” can make changes. Users with a permission of “None” are unable to access the information in StrikeTracker for either viewing or editing.

• Reporting With this permission the user has access to reporting information, such as CDN analytics.

• Content Users with this permission can view and edit content in the CMS.

• User Gives access to the Users tab, allowing users to view and/or change settings and information for other users.

• Billing Users with this permission can perform activities such as viewing billable totals and processing billing events for sub‐accounts.

Access levels can be set when creating a user initially, or at a later time by editing their user account settings.


2.6.2 Users Overview

The Users view is presented below.

User Interface Layout for the Users Section The Users interface consists of a view selector on the left with a viewing area on the right. Above the viewing area is a toolbar containing buttons for performing User administration operations.

View Selector The View Selector is used to switch between several views of the User information available for the account being displayed. Users can be viewed as summary cards, by name, by permissions, as icons, or as tiles.


Viewing Area This area shows details for the Users under this account organized according to the view selected in the View Selector.

To initiate a User operation, such as “Toggle Status”, the user first selects the target User by clicking on the row, card, or icon (based upon the view type being used) representing the User they wish to perform the operation against. The user then presses the button in the toolbar related to the operation they wish to perform, and follows the instructions in the dialog window that appears.

User information can be updated by double‐clicking on any User. The user is presented with an edit dialog and may make changes accordingly. Changes take effect immediately, although some permission changes require the User to log out of StrikeTracker and back in again before the new permission settings take effect.

User Operation Toolbar/Buttons Using the buttons available in the toolbar above the Viewing Area, users may perform the following operations.

• Views Cycles the customer Viewing Area through the view options listed in the View Selector. See the View Selector section for more information on specific view types.

• Delete This operation removes a customer from the system. As a safeguard, the user is prompted to confirm this operation before it is executed since it cannot be undone.

• New User Click to create a new User for this account. A dialog will walk you through the process for creating the new User. Upon completion, the new User is created on the CDN instantly, and can begin using StrikeTracker immediately.

• Toggle Status This operation toggles a User's status between Active and Suspended.


3. Updates, Feedback & New Feature Requests

The management portal is provided to give resellers a flexible portal for managing CDN services in a wide range of environments and media verticals. Our design goal is to optimize your productivity with features that are powerful, yet simple to use. We’re bringing the network to you so you can have total control over the CDN.

StrikeTracker will continue to evolve the way resellers operate by providing the richest CDN administration tools in the industry. As a result, user feedback is an important aspect in the development of StrikeTracker. Users are encouraged to take an active role in the ongoing development of StrikeTracker by providing comments, suggestions, and requests. If you have comments, concerns, or feature requests, please contact your account management team.

striketracker v1.5.1 user guide · 2009-10-03 · 3 cdn portal user guide 1. striketracker overview...

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