Local vs Cloud Assets

Setting Up Local and Cloud Assets in Craft

In this video, I teach you how to set up local assets in Craft CMS and integrate cloud assets using Amazon S3. 

This step-by-step guide covers everything from creating asset volumes to configuring environment variables and managing uploads effectively. In this tutorial, we covered setting up local and cloud assets in Craft CMS. Starting with the creation of local asset volumes, I showed you how to configure public URLs and upload images. We then transitioned to integrating Amazon S3, setting up an account, creating a bucket, and managing access keys. The tutorial highlighted how to add environment variables for secure configuration and how to upload and manage files directly from the Craft CMS interface. By the end of this lesson, you will have a seamless system for managing both local and cloud-stored assets.

Summary

1. Introduction to Local and Cloud Assets: I introduced the concept of managing assets locally and in the cloud, explaining the benefits of each method.
2. Creating Local Asset Volumes: We started by creating a local volume in Craft CMS named "Local Images," configuring it to use public URLs, and ensuring it is properly set up in the web root folder.
3. Uploading Local Assets: Demonstrated how to upload and manage images within the local volume, including accessing and editing the images directly within Craft CMS.
4. Setting Environment Variables: Explained how to set up environment variables in the .env file to manage file paths and URLs securely.
5. Amazon S3 Account Setup: Guided through creating a free Amazon S3 account, setting up a unique bucket, and configuring it for public access.
6. Integrating S3 with Craft CMS: Showed how to install and configure the Amazon S3 plugin in Craft CMS, including setting up access keys as environment variables.
7. Creating Cloud Asset Volumes: We created a new volume named "Cloud Images" in Craft CMS, configured it with the S3 bucket details, and tested uploading an image to ensure it works.
8. Managing Uploaded Assets: Explained how to check and manage uploaded images within both local and cloud volumes using Craft CMS.
9. Refreshing Asset Indexes: Demonstrated how to refresh asset indexes to fetch new images from S3, ensuring all assets are up-to-date.
10. Conclusion and Next Steps: Summarized the key takeaways and set the stage for the next lesson on transactional emails.