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Storage Server Groups

 

What This Page Does

This page lets you organize your content delivery network (CDN) into logical groups. Think of storage groups as folders that hold your CDN servers. Each group can be set up to handle specific types of content (videos, images, thumbnails) and can automatically balance traffic across multiple servers for better performance and reliability.

You'll use this page to create groups like "Premium Video CDN" or "Gallery Images" and then configure how content is distributed across your servers.

[Screenshot: page-overview]

How to Get Here

Navigate to Admin Panel > Storage > Groups

Understanding the Page

When you first open this page, you'll see a list of all your storage groups displayed in a table. At the top, there's a green button to create new groups. Each row in the table shows a group's name, what type of content it handles, how many servers it contains, and how much storage is being used.

The Action Bar

At the top of the page, you'll find a green Create New Storage Group button. Click this to set up a new group.

The Groups Table

The main table shows all your storage groups with these details:

  • Group Name - The name you gave the group (and its description if you added one)
  • Content Type - What kind of files this group stores (videos, images, thumbnails, or a combination)
  • Load Balancing - How traffic is distributed across the servers in this group
  • Servers - How many servers are in this group
  • Storage - How much space is used out of the total available
  • Videos - How many videos are currently stored in this group
  • Status - Whether the group is active (green dot) or inactive (red dot)
  • Actions - Buttons to edit, view servers, or delete the group

Common Tasks

How to Create a New Storage Group

You'll create a new group when you want to add a CDN provider, organize content by type, or set up different performance tiers.

  1. Click the Create New Storage Group button at the top of the page.
  2. In the popup window, fill in the Group Name field with a descriptive name like "Primary Video CDN" or "Gallery Images".
  3. Optionally, add a Description to explain what this group is for.
  4. Select a Content Type:
  • Videos & Images - Can store both types
  • Videos Only - Only for video files
  • Images Only - Only for gallery photos
  • Thumbnails Only - Only for video thumbnails and previews
  1. Choose a Load Balancing Type:
  • Least Space Used - Automatically sends new content to the server with the most free space (recommended for most cases)
  • Round Robin - Evenly distributes content across all servers
  • Weighted - Prioritizes certain servers based on their weight setting
  • Geography Based - Routes content based on visitor location
  1. Set the Priority (1-10) - Higher numbers mean this group is preferred when multiple groups can handle the same content type.
  2. Check Active to enable the group immediately.
  3. Check Auto-sync New Content to automatically distribute new uploads to all servers in this group.
  4. Click Save Group.
Tip: After creating a group, you'll need to add servers to it before it can store any content. Look for the green Servers button next to your new group to add servers.

[Screenshot: create-group-modal]

How to Edit an Existing Group

You might edit a group to change its priority, update the description, or modify how it balances traffic.

  1. Find the group you want to change in the table.
  2. Click the Edit button (pencil icon) in the Actions column.
  3. The popup window will open with all the current settings filled in.
  4. Make your changes to any field.
  5. Click Save Group.
Warning: If you change the Content Type on a group that's already storing content, you might cause playback issues on your site. It's safer to create a new group instead.

[Screenshot: edit-group-modal]

How to View Servers in a Group

To see which servers are part of a group, or to add/remove servers:

  1. Find the group in the table.
  2. Click the green Servers button in the Actions column.
  3. You'll be taken to the Storage Servers page, showing only the servers in this group.

From there, you can add new servers, edit existing ones, or remove servers from the group.

How to Delete a Storage Group

You can only delete a group that has no servers in it.

  1. Check the Servers column for the group you want to delete.
  2. If it shows any number other than 0, you need to remove those servers first:
  • Click the Servers button
  • Delete or move each server to a different group
  • Come back to the Groups page
  1. Once the Servers column shows 0, you'll see a red Delete button appear.
  2. Click the Delete button (trash icon).
  3. Confirm the deletion when prompted.
Warning: Deleting a group is permanent and cannot be undone. Make sure no content depends on this group before deleting it.

How to Set Up Geographic Load Balancing

This is useful if your site has visitors from around the world and you want to serve content from the closest server to them.

  1. Create or edit a storage group.
  2. Set Load Balancing Type to "Geography Based".
  3. A new field called Geography Rules will appear.
  4. Enter your rules in this format:
{"US": 60, "EU": 30, "AS": 10}

This example sends 60% of traffic to US servers, 30% to European servers, and 10% to Asian servers.

  1. Make sure your percentages add up to 100.
  2. Click Save Group.

Available Region Codes:

  • US - United States
  • EU - Europe
  • AS - Asia
  • SA - South America
  • AF - Africa
  • OC - Oceania

 

Tip: Match your traffic distribution to where your visitors actually come from. Check your site analytics to see which regions have the most viewers.

Understanding the Settings

Content Type Options

Setting What It Does When to Use It
Videos & Images Can store both video files and photo galleries General-purpose groups
Videos Only Only stores video files (MP4, HLS) Dedicated video CDN
Images Only Only stores gallery photos Separate gallery storage
Thumbnails Only Only stores video thumbnails and preview clips Separate thumbnail delivery

Load Balancing Types

Type What It Does Best For
Least Space Used Automatically picks the server with the most free space Most situations - ensures even distribution
Round Robin Takes turns sending content to each server equally When all servers are the same size
Weighted Prioritizes certain servers based on their weight When some servers are faster or better than others
Geography Based Routes content based on visitor location Global sites with international audiences

Priority Levels

Priority controls which group gets used when multiple groups could handle the same content type. Higher numbers win.

Priority Recommended Use
10 Critical content, fastest CDN
7-9 Premium content, high-performance CDN
4-6 Standard content, balanced performance
1-3 Archive content, cost-optimized storage

Status Indicators

  • Green dot (Active) - The group is enabled and ready to store content
  • Red dot (Inactive) - The group is disabled and won't be used for new content

Auto-sync New Content

When this is checked, any new content uploaded to your site will automatically be copied to all servers in this group. This is useful for redundancy and faster delivery.

When unchecked, content must be manually synced or only goes to one server.

Tips for New Users

Tip:
  • Start with one group named "Primary Storage" with Content Type set to "Videos & Images" and Load Balancing set to "Least Space Used".
  • Add your first CDN server to that group before uploading any content.
  • Create separate groups for different content types only if you need them - one group works fine for most sites.
  • Use priority levels if you have both premium (fast) and budget (slow) CDN providers - give the premium one a higher priority.
  • Check the storage usage regularly to make sure you're not running out of space.

Organizing Your Groups

Here are some common ways to organize storage groups:

Simple Setup (Most New Sites)

  • One group called "Primary Storage" that handles everything

By Content Type

  • "Video CDN" - For video files only
  • "Thumbnail CDN" - For video thumbnails only
  • "Gallery Storage" - For photo galleries only

By Performance Tier

  • "Premium CDN" (Priority 10) - For popular or paid content
  • "Standard CDN" (Priority 5) - For regular content
  • "Archive Storage" (Priority 1) - For old content that's rarely viewed

By Geographic Region

  • "North America CDN" - Serves US and Canadian visitors
  • "Europe CDN" - Serves European visitors
  • "Asia-Pacific CDN" - Serves Asian visitors

Troubleshooting

The Create Button Is Disabled

What you see: The Create New Storage Group button appears grayed out and you can't click it.

Why this happens: The page is in demo mode.

How to fix it: Demo mode is usually set on test or demonstration installations. If this is your live site, contact your system administrator to disable demo mode.

I Can't Delete a Group

What you see: There's no Delete button next to the group you want to remove.

Why this happens: The group still has servers assigned to it. You can see the number of servers in the Servers column.

How to fix it:

  1. Click the Servers button for that group.
  2. Remove all servers from the group (either delete them or move them to another group).
  3. Go back to the Groups page.
  4. The Delete button will now appear.

 

Group Shows 0 Storage Space

What you see: The Storage column shows "0 / 0 GB".

Why this happens: Either the group has no servers, or all the servers in the group are inactive.

How to fix it:

  1. Click the Servers button for that group.
  2. If there are no servers, add at least one.
  3. If there are servers but they're all marked as inactive, change their status to active.
  4. Refresh the Groups page to see updated storage totals.

 

Videos Aren't Playing After I Changed a Group

What you see: Videos show errors or won't load on your site after you edited or deleted a storage group.

Why this happens: The videos were assigned to that group and now can't find their files.

How to fix it:

  1. If you deleted a group that had videos, the videos are now orphaned.
  2. Go to Video Management and reassign those videos to an active storage group.
  3. If you edited the group, make sure it's still set to Active status.

 

Warning: Always check how many videos a group has (Videos column) before making changes. If that number isn't zero, those videos depend on this group working correctly.

Geography Rules Aren't Working

What you see: Traffic isn't being distributed the way you configured in your geography rules.

Why this happens: The rules might have incorrect formatting, or your servers might not be tagged with regions.

How to fix it:

  1. Edit the group and check the Geography Rules field.
  2. Make sure the format is correct: {"US": 60, "EU": 40}
  3. Verify the percentages add up to 100.
  4. Go to the Servers page for this group and make sure each server has a region assigned.

 

Page When to Use It
Storage Servers To add, edit, or remove individual CDN servers from your groups
Video Management To see which videos are assigned to which storage groups
CDN Cost Calculator To compare pricing between different CDN providers before creating groups

Quick Reference

What's a storage group? A container that holds one or more CDN servers and defines how content is distributed across them.

Do I need multiple groups? No - most sites work fine with just one group that handles everything.

Can I move videos between groups? Yes, edit the video and change its storage group assignment.

What happens if I deactivate a group? New content won't be stored there, but existing content remains accessible.

How do I add CDN servers to a group? Click the Servers button next to the group, then add servers on the Storage Servers page.

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