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Slow PrestaShop? Speed up PrestaShop with the MetaCDN Site Accelerator

Christof Zellweger
  • Updated

What is Prestashop

Prestashop (http://www.prestashop.com/) is a widely-popular open-source e-commerce online store which allows retailers to build, extend and run an online selling platform. Our site accelerator easily integrates with Prestashop and this guide shows you how to achieve this. This guide has been written for Prestashop v1.5.4.1.

 

Step 1: Setup the MetaCDN Site Accelerator

To perform this step you need a MetaCDN account. Sign up here if you don't have one - you can trial the service for free for 28 days risk free. Once you have your MetaCDN account, log into the MetaCDN portal and click on "Accelerate Site" on the top right hand corner. In this example we accelerate our Prestashop-powered website at the origin domain http://prestashop.metacdn.com. We have given it the name "prestashop". Hit Continue to advance to the next step.

MetaCDN_prestashop_integration.png

 

Let's confirm the settings we made in the previous page. The accelerated website (once provisioned) will be available at the accelerated domain prestashop.metacdn.sa.net. Click on Accelerate once you are happy the settings are correct.

MetaCDN_prestashop_integration_step_2.png

 

You will see a confirmation screen with the details of your accelerated site. You should receive an email from MetaCDN once the accelerated domain is ready to use - this typically takes 60-90 minutes.

 

Step 2: Configure PrestaShop through the admin portal

To enable loading javascript, images, CSS and other resources from our CDN, you have to enable the CCC features and specify your accelerated URL. You can do so under Advanced Parameters > Performance. 

Screen_Shot_2013-07-26_at_11.39.46_AM.png

  • In the field Media Server #1, enter your accelerated site URL, such as prestashop.sa.metacdn.net.
  • Once done, hit Save

 

Step 3: delete the .htaccess file & clear the Prestashop cache

It might be necessary to clear the cache that Prestashop keeps. To do so, execute the following steps:

  • log into the machine which hosts your Prestashop installation
  • navigate to your prestashop directory on that server
  • except for index.php, delete all files and folders under ./cache/smarty/cache/ and ./cache/smarty/compile/

  • as for the .htaccess file under the Prestashop root: delete it
  • once deleted, login to your admin portal and navigate to Preferences > SEO & URLs and simply hit the Save button (you might have to scroll down a bit)
  • this re-generates the .htaccess files with the updated values for the media server URLs specified in step 2.

Other Resources

There are other things you can do to tune up and optimise your PrestaShop website. Below are some great resources to get you started:

 

 

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