Section’s Developer Point of Presence is the first and only solution that allows developers to pull their full content delivery, caching, and WAF configuration into a local environment for testing. Using MiniKube, a tool which allows you to create a local Kubernetes cluster on your machine, Section gives developers and operations teams a local Point of Presence that is exactly the same as Section’s global PoPs. This allows for a faster feedback loop, less problems on your live site, and better website security and performance outcomes.
Testing CDN Configuration
Traditionally, CDNs have been difficult to fully test before going to production. Because CDNs wrap up reverse proxies in a production only “black-box,” developers are unable to predict how configuration changes will impact their live website. That results in these CDN issues:
Items breaking in production
The “it worked on my machine” moment is common when making configuration changes to content delivery. Here are some problems that can arise without testing:
- Broken images and headers: missing images or misconfigured headers result in poor user experience.
- Session leakage: Delivering the wrong personalized content can be disastrous for your business and lead to a loss of customer trust.
- Mis-configured WAFs: If your Web Application Firewall is not properly blocking threats it can leave you open to attack, or you could unwittingly block legitimate users.
- Slower load times: A mis-configured cache can actually slow down your page load time, and it’s often difficult to troubleshoot.
Not realizing the full potential of Content Delivery
Many of the most valuable features of content delivery are not turned on out of fear they will break a production site once deployed. With a risk-free solution you can:
- Cache HTML: Caching HTML documents is the best way to improve back end load time and overall page speed, but it’s regarded as risky for users who aren’t able to test.
- Block threats more effectively: Testing your WAF configuration regularly allows for better threat blocking.
- Implement more front end optimizations: Front End Optimizations can reduce image sizes and manipulate JavaScript, but are often not be leveraged completely due to an inability to test how they’ll change your site load.
Test CDN Changes Locally with Section
Section’s DevPoP solves these issues while also improving developer efficiency. Changes to Varnish Cache Configuration Language (VCL), WAF configurations, or PageSpeed settings will be reflected in the DevPoP within 1 minute, and once you’ve confirmed changes are ready to go, simply push up changes using the same Git-backed process. Learn more here, orcontact us to get a demo or request access to the DevPoP beta so you can try it for yourself.
