You can route access to images in one of three ways:
Directly to an image storage point using aspftp
Through a load balancer in front of multiple storage points
Through the pixel data service on the Application Server or through a load balancer in front of multiple Application Servers
For details about security, performance, ports, and so on for each of these options, refer to Determining how images are accessed. If all access to images is directly through the pixel data service on the Application Server, all configuration is done when configuring access to Business Services.
Each machine hosting an image cache in the cluster is listed as a storage point in the Configure area - Stations section. (If you have multiple Curators, only the master Curator is listed as a storage point.) You can combine multiple image storage points into a single storage group. For example, if you have three storage points—CACHE1, CACHE2, and CACHE3—you can combine all of them into one storage group called Radimage. Then, you can have all access to the image caches in that storage group flow through a load balancer, for example.
 | Tip: Only one set of storage groups is used for all station containers. You can define the storage groups in one station container, and all other station containers use the same set. You can, however, configure different URLs to access the storage groups in each station container. |
To configure access to images using storage groups
From the Configure drawer menu
, select Stations.In the navigation pane, select a station container.
In the details pane, expand the General bar.
Switch to the Image Access tab.
In the Storage Points in This Enterprise table, next to the Storage Point, click in the Storage Group column and type the name of the new storage group.
The storage group is added to the URLs to Access Storage table.
For any other Storage Points to include in the same storage group, type the same name next to it in the Storage Group column.
If you are not using a load balancer in front of the image caches, each storage group has only one image storage point as a member.
In the URLs to Access Storage table, next to the Storage Point, click in the Access URL column and type the URL, including protocol and port number of the load balancer, image cache, or web cache. For example: aspftp://curator1:3040 or aspftp://loadbalancer1:3050.
The protocol of the URL can be http, https, or aspftp. Refer to Protocols for Business Services and image access. If you have multiple web caches, and are connecting directly instead of through a load balancer, you must use the URL of the master Curator.
To prioritize direct Client image access using ASPFTP to the most proximal Network Gateway, select Use Station Container AET as Destination (AET) for Cache Priority in Image Access Manager.
This functionality is used by sites with a single database and multiple Network Gateways that are distributed across multiple bandwidth facilities. This reduces network usage and increases performance.
To enter the container name into the database and make it appear in the Image Access Manager for prioritization, type the name.
The container name must be a maximum of 16 characters. This allows you to create station containers for each facility and prioritize clients by adding them to the appropriate container.
The changes are saved automatically when you switch context.
 | Note: If you delete a storage group (that is, rename it to a blank string), that will delete the group from all containers. Storage groups are global stations. URL access points are specific to the station container. |