Getting Started

This guide walks you through the initial setup to get your website running through smoxy. The process is the same regardless of which module you use — Image Optimization, Acceleration, or Security. Once traffic flows through smoxy, you can activate your modules.

What you need:

• A smoxy account

• Your origin server's IP address and port

• Access to your domain's DNS management

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Step 1: Create a Site

1. Click Create first site (or the + button if you already have sites)

2. Enter the URL of the website you want to optimize (e.g. example.com)

3. Choose a site type (Production or Staging — this is for your own organization only)

4. Give your site a name (auto-filled from the URL, but you can change it)

5. Add hostnames — these are the domains that should use this site's configuration (e.g. example.com, www.example.com). You can add more later.

What is a site? A site is a reusable bundle of settings — caching, security, optimization — that you assign to one or more domains. See What is a Site? for details.

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Step 2: Set Up SSL

For each hostname, smoxy needs an SSL certificate. You have two options:

Auto-managed (recommended)

smoxy generates and renews certificates automatically via Let's Encrypt. To verify domain ownership, you need to create a DNS CNAME record:

Record Type	Name	Value
CNAME	_acme-challenge.example.com	Shown in the setup wizard (copy button provided)

After adding the record at your DNS provider, click Verify Records in smoxy. Once verified, the certificate is generated automatically.

Note: This DNS record is only for certificate generation — it does not route traffic through smoxy yet.

Self-managed

If you prefer to use your own certificate, click Upload Own SSL Certificate and paste your certificate (PEM format) and private key. See Self-managed SSL Certificates for format requirements.

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Step 3: Configure Your Origin

The origin is your backend server where smoxy forwards requests.

Field	Description
Scheme	https (default) or http
IP address	Your server's IPv4 address (e.g. 12.3.45.6)
Port	Default 443 for HTTPS, 80 for HTTP
Hostname (optional)	Overrides the Host header sent to your server. Leave empty to use the incoming domain.

You can also select an existing origin or load balancer if you've already configured one under Organization > Origins & Loadbalancer.

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Step 4: Complete the Go-Live Checklist

After setup, the Dashboard shows a Go-Live checklist with four items:

1. Target Setup — Origin or load balancer configured

2. Connectivity — smoxy can reach your origin (click Retry to test)

3. Hostnames — At least one hostname added

4. SSL — Valid certificate for your hostnames

All four must be green before you can go live.

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Step 5: Switch DNS to smoxy

This is the step that actually routes your visitors' traffic through smoxy. The dashboard shows the exact CNAME records you need to set:

Record Type	Name	Value
CNAME	example.com	Shown on the dashboard (copy button provided)
CNAME	www.example.com	Shown on the dashboard (copy button provided)

Set these records at your DNS provider. Use a low TTL (e.g. 300 seconds / 5 minutes) so you can quickly revert if needed.

Note: DNS changes can take up to 24–48 hours to propagate globally, though most changes are visible within minutes.

Verify Traffic

Enable Live Mode on the dashboard to see requests arriving in real time. Once you see traffic in the Requests chart, your setup is working.

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Step 6: Activate Your Modules

At this point, traffic flows through smoxy but no optimization is active yet. Activate the modules you've purchased:

Image Optimization

Automatically compresses and converts images to modern formats (WebP, AVIF) based on browser support. Enable it in your site settings and configure quality thresholds.

Set up Image Optimization →

Acceleration

Caches HTML pages at the edge for near-instant delivery. Enable it in your site settings. Make sure to exclude dynamic pages (cart, checkout, account) using Conditional Rules.

Set up Acceleration →

Security

Activates the Web Application Firewall (WAF) with managed rules that protect against common threats. Safe to enable for all sites — no configuration needed to get started.

Set up Security & WAF →

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What's Next?

• Advanced Caching — Fine-tune TTL, cache keys, and cache tags

• Dashboard — Monitor traffic, cache hits, and manage your site

• Rules — Create rules to customize behavior per path, country, or device

• How SSL Works in smoxy — Understand certificate management in detail