# What is a Site?

A site in smoxy is a reusable configuration that you assign to one or more domains. Instead of managing each domain individually, you group domains under a site so they all share the same settings for caching, security, optimization, and routing.

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### How Sites Work

1. **Create a site** with your desired settings (caching, security, image optimization, etc.)
2. **Assign domains** to the site — each domain inherits the site's configuration
3. **Manage centrally** — changes to the site apply to all assigned domains

For example, you could assign `www.example.com`, `shop.example.com`, and `blog.example.com` to the same site. All three domains would share identical caching, security, and optimization settings.

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### What You Can Configure

A site controls every aspect of how smoxy handles traffic for its assigned domains:

| Feature                    | What It Does                                                                        | Learn More                                                                |
| -------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Origin / Load Balancer** | Where smoxy sends traffic — a single server or a pool of servers                    | [Basic Configuration](https://docs.smoxy.eu/en/sites/basic-configuration) |
| **Caching**                | How long content is cached, cache key composition, cache tags, stale cache behavior | [Advanced Caching](https://docs.smoxy.eu/en/sites/advanced-caching)       |
| **Image Optimization**     | Automatic compression, WebP/AVIF conversion, quality settings per format            | [Image Optimization](https://docs.smoxy.eu/en/sites/image-optimization)   |
| **Acceleration**           | HTML caching and minification for faster page delivery                              | [Acceleration](https://docs.smoxy.eu/en/sites/acceleration)               |
| **Security & WAF**         | Web Application Firewall, access rules, Basic Auth, Under Attack Mode               | [Security & WAF](https://docs.smoxy.eu/en/sites/security-and-waf)         |
| **Custom Pages**           | Branded error, security, and maintenance pages                                      | [Custom Pages](https://docs.smoxy.eu/en/sites/custom-pages)               |
| **Rules**                  | Override any site setting based on request conditions (URL, country, headers, etc.) | [Rules Overview](https://docs.smoxy.eu/en/rules/rules-overview)           |
| **Headers**                | Add or modify request and response HTTP headers                                     | [Basic Configuration](https://docs.smoxy.eu/en/sites/basic-configuration) |

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### Common Patterns

#### One Site Per Environment

Create separate sites for production, staging, and development. Each environment gets its own caching, security, and optimization settings.

| Site            | Domains                               | Settings                                               |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Production**  | `www.example.com`, `shop.example.com` | Aggressive caching, WAF enabled, image optimization on |
| **Staging**     | `staging.example.com`                 | Short cache TTL, WAF enabled, debug headers on         |
| **Development** | `dev.example.com`                     | No caching, WAF off, debug headers on                  |

#### One Site for Multiple Domains

If several domains serve the same type of content with the same requirements, assign them all to one site. This avoids duplicating configuration.

#### Switching Configurations

You can reassign a domain to a different site at any time. The domain immediately inherits the new site's settings — no need to reconfigure anything manually.

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### Sites vs. Redirect Sites

smoxy has two types of sites:

| Type              | Purpose                                                              |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Site**          | Full configuration — caching, security, optimization, routing, rules |
| **Redirect Site** | Only redirects traffic to another URL — no caching, no optimization  |

Use a redirect site when you only need to forward one domain to another (e.g., redirecting `example.com` to `www.example.com`). See [Redirect Sites](https://docs.smoxy.eu/en/sites/redirect-sites) for details.