Migration from Akamai to ImageKit.io

Akamai Image Manager has limited image optimization and transformation support compared to ImageKit.io. Migrating to ImageKit.io can help you leverage advanced image optimization and transformation capabilities, leading to faster loading times and improved user experience. This guide outlines the steps for migrating your media assets delivery and optimization from Akamai Image Manager to ImageKit.io.

ImageKit.io supports all external storage that Akamai Image Manager supports. That means you can easily configure existing storage in ImageKit. Refer to configure external storage and follow the integration steps based on your storage.

Open URL endpoints in the dashboard, and enable URL rewriter in the desired URL endpoint under the "Advanced settings" tab. This will rewrite the incoming URL to the format that ImageKit understands. This allows you to keep the existing Akamai transformations in your application and still use ImageKit for media optimization, transformation, and delivery.

Now, you should be able to access existing assets through ImageKit. At the same time, existing Akamai transformations should work without any changes.

You should create a separate property in Akamai to test the migration. This will help you test the migration without changing the DNS settings.

However, if you want to test on existing domain names, you can create a local host entry in your system to point the domain to ImageKit. This will help you test the migration without changing the DNS settings.

Use the dig ik.imagekit.io command to find the IP address and add the following entry to your host file.

For Windows

1. Open your text editor in Administrator mode.
2. In the text editor, open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.
3. Add the IP Address and hostname.
   Example: 171.10.10.5 custom.domain.com
4. Save the changes.

For Linux

1. Open terminal.
2. Use the nano command line text editor or a different one you have available to open the host file. The command with nano is as follows (the command will require your Linux user password)
3. sudo nano /etc/hosts
4. Add the appropriate changes in the host file.
   Example: 171.10.10.5 custom.domain.com
5. Use the Control and 'X' key combination to save the changes.

Let's fetch an image without any transformation. The same would work for other file types as well.

• Original image through Akamai (old URL)
  http://custom.domain.com/rest-of-the-path.jpg
• The same image using ImageKit.io URL endpoint
  http://custom.domain.com/rest-of-the-path.jpg

Let's see if transformations work as expected. The same would work for videos as well.

• Akamai transformation (old URL)
  http://custom.domain.com/rest-of-the-path.jpg?imwidth=420
• With ImageKit
  http://custom.domain.com/rest-of-the-path.jpg?imwidth=420

For a list of supported transformations and how they are translated, refer to the Akamai URL Rewriter specification.

Once you are confident that ImageKit is serving your assets correctly, you should update your DNS settings to point to ImageKit. This will ensure that all your assets are served through ImageKit.