How the magic happens
Your Amazon S3 Files Delivered via Stackpath
Bucket Blaze works by copying your files from Amazon S3 into the Stackpath Content Delivery Network (CDN), then delivering them from Stackpath instead of S3 whenever a customer requests a download.
We record every individual download request for each file that is downloaded via Bucket Blaze and this is added to your analytics in your dashboard so you can see file costs and more information.
Enhanced Downloads via Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Your files always remain stored on Amazon S3. The very first time a customer clicks on a Bucket Blaze download link, the network immediately copies it from Amazon S3 into the Stackpath network and delivers it to the customer from there (all within milliseconds) and stores it there for up to 1 year.
The next time a customer clicks the download link, it comes directly from Stackpath and doesn’t need to be copied from S3.
Files are initially stored in the Stackpath “Origin Shield” which is its central location. As more download requests happen, your files are distributed to the 45 “edge” locations around the world, ensuring high speed downloads at all times.
Connecting Multiple Cloud Services Into One Platform
The Bucket Blaze system is simple and robust as in essence we create a connection between multiple cloud platforms.
At its most basic level, we connect the following cloud services together to create Bucket Blaze:
- Amazon S3 – host your files here
- Amazon Lambda – for generating a record of each download
- Amazon DynamoDB – for your analytics dashboard
- Stackpath – delivering your files
This means you’re getting access to enterprise level services at very affordable prices.
How Does the System Compare to Amazon S3?
With Amazon S3
Using just Amazon S3, your files are stored in one location and delivered from there. This can result in slow speeds for customers who are further from that location (usually USA).
With Bucket Blaze
With Bucket Blaze, your files remain on S3, but are copied into the Bucket Blaze network and delivered from up to 45 different “edge” locations around the world, resulting in faster speeds.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any questions, would like a walkthrough of Bucket Blaze or help set you up then get in touch
Stackpath keeps your files in its network cache for up to 1 year. After that point, it will remove the file and re-cache it again the next time it is requested.
Stackpath has a Least Recently Used (LRU) algorithm which is always running on its network. This helps to improve their network by removing files if they haven’t been used recently, are large and taking up space in a popular datacenter. To ensure your files are not removed and re-cached again, you should ensure they are small (100-300MB) – popular files are less likely to be removed.
When Stackpath copies your files from Amazon S3 into its network, Amazon S3 charges you $0.09/GB as it treats this as a “download”.
Bucket Blaze is ideal for companies who are using 1TB of bandwidth or more per month. Alternatively, if you’re delivering a small individual file that has a lot of bandwidth usage, its also ideal for that.
As you’re charged by Amazon each time Bucket Blaze caches your files and because Stackpath removes files if they’re not used a lot, you should check your bandwidth usage first and see if Bucket Blaze is for you. An alternative solution is to use something like Wasabi for your file hosting (cheaper than Amazon S3 and no egress costs) as this has no associated costs when Bucket Blaze / Stackpath caches your files.
Yes absolutely. Bucket Blaze works with any “S3 compatible” file storage solution and its ideal for Wasabi.
BucketBlaze can run in parallel with your existing solution without any disruption to your business. You can use it in combination with any other S3 plugin – as it only creates new shortcodes for you to use, it won’t conflict with any other plugins.
Got a question?
We’re happy to go through any details or manage the installation for you, just get in touch!