How can I set up static media domain and expires headers?

Question

Hi, my site has been up and running fine for about 2 months now, and I have lately been trying to improve its performance with the help of YSlow. So I got a 2 Part question here.

One point YSlow makes is that its best to put all static media on a subdomain on which cookies can be turned off. Currently, all of my static media is served on /media/ with a static app, but I had the idea that there must be some way I can set up http://media.mysite.com to point to http://www.mystite.com/media/. I could then set http://media.mysite.com as my static media domain in django. Is there any way I could do this?

Next, and related to that, is setting up "expires" headers for my static image files. I tried adding this:

ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType image/png "now plus 365 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "now plus 365 days"
ExpiresByType image/gif "now plus 365 days"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "now plus 365 days"
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "now plus 365 days"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "now plus 365 days"
ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 365 days"

to the httpd.conf of my django app, but then I remembered that my static files were served with a static app. However, my static app does not have an httpd.conf. How can I set the expires headers for these files?

Accepted Answer

0

I don't see any need to point http://media.mysite.com at http://www.mystite.com/media/. You should just need to do this:

Add the "media.mysite.com" subdomain
Create a new site to serve your static app on that subdomain
Set your MEDIA_URL in your Django settings to "http://media.mysite.com/"

Regarding your expires headers, your static-only app is served by Nginx, so you cannot use Apache directives. Instead, you can edit your static-only app in our control panel to set "expires max" in the "extra info" field, and that will be applied to anything served from that app. "expires max" is the only option we support at this time.

Hope that helps!

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answered 08 Oct '11, 14:44

seanf
12.1k●2●16●35
accept rate: 37%

Well, the problem is that while most of my static media is done with django, there are a few places that are hardcoded. I would like it if I didn't have to go and find all of these scattered places. Is there any way to preserve both, like I mentioned in the original question?

(08 Oct '11, 16:10) germanjoey

I also don't see an option to edit my static media app. Do I need to recreate it? Can I delete it without all of my static files being deleted too?

(08 Oct '11, 16:14) germanjoey

Well, the problem is that while most of my static media is done with django, there are a few places that are hardcoded. I would like it if I didn't have to go and find all of these scattered places. Is there any way to preserve both, like I mentioned in the original question?

Sure, you can continue to serve your existing static media app on http://www.mystite.com/media/ while also serving it via a separate site on http://media.mysite.com/ - so, the bits you don't change will still be able to find media at the old location.

I also don't see an option to edit my static media app. Do I need to recreate it? Can I delete it without all of my static files being deleted too?

No, you don't need to re-create it. If you delete it, your static files will be deleted, so don't do that either.

You can edit the app by going to Apps in the control panel and then click the edit icon (the one with the pencil) on the row for whatever app.

(08 Oct '11, 16:20) seanf

Well thanks seanf! I'll give this a try!

(08 Oct '11, 16:23) germanjoey

seanf, I tried creating the subdomain but it seems to 404 on me. Does it take time for the new subdomain to show up?

(08 Oct '11, 17:07) germanjoey

Yes, new subdomains always take a bit of time to propagate. If it's not working after several minutes have passed, then please try flushing your DNS cache as described the bottom of our domain docs and then try again.

(08 Oct '11, 17:34) seanf

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How can I set up static media domain and expires headers?

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