Attachment streaming

What are the benefits of streaming attachments through CloudFront?

The two most important benefits of streaming attachments through CloudFront are speed and security:

• Speed. Users download files from a location that is geographically closer to them, potentially making delivery faster.
• Security. Cryptographic signatures when generating attachment URLs prevents tampering from outside sources.

Do all Expert sites have this feature?

Currently, only public (available to users who are not logged in) Expert sites have this feature enabled and only for attachments that have no permissions on them, meaning they are stored on a page with no added restrictions.

How do attachments work?

When a user uploads a file as an attachment to a page, it is actually being uploaded onto a separate server and referenced with a Expert API-generated URL. The API-generated URL is mapped to the location of the file and saved in a separate location. When an end user requests an attachment, Expert transforms that request into a CloudFront link which then redirects the user to where the attachment is stored.

How do I stream attachments?

To stream attachments and link files to be redirected automatically, perform the following steps: 

1. Open the page in Edit mode.
2. From the editor toolbar, select View > Source.
3. Verify attachments are referenced as /@api/deki/files/[id]/[file].[ext] to automatically redirect to the new file location.

<img src="https://success.mindtouch.com/@api/deki/files/15697/header-custom-header.png">

What are the mechanics behind attachment streaming?

All links to attachments rendered in Expert use the streaming mechanism https://domain.com/@api/deki/files/....  Behind the scenes, the mechanism redirects users to a URL beginning with https://files.mtstatic.com. The redirected URL is invisible to Expert users but can be displayed when opening the link /@api/deki/files/ in a new tab/window.