Articles on: Settings & configurations

Enterprise local sync solution

Sync to server is an Enterprise integration that publishes your Maglr projects directly to your own web server over FTP or SFTP, instead of to Maglr's hosting. Each time you publish a project live, Maglr generates static pages and files and uploads them to your server. You keep creating and editing the projects in Maglr. See how this works in practice.

Note: Sync to server is only available with the Maglr Enterprise license. It requires a one-time set-up by Maglr, depending on the type of synchronisation and your IT requirements.

If you only need a copy of a project, for example as a back-up, you can download it as a ZIP file instead. See Download a publication as a ZIP.

Image: publishing a project to a remote server

How Sync to server works

With Sync to server, a project's live version is hosted on your own server instead of on Maglr's CDN servers:

You create and edit projects in the Maglr dashboard and editor, as usual.
Previews are published on Maglr, on your Maglr preview domain, so you can test a project before it goes live.
When you publish a project live, Maglr generates the pages and uploads them, with all their assets, to your server over FTP or SFTP. Your server hosts the live version.
When you publish changes, Maglr uploads only the new and changed files, and removes files from your server that are no longer part of the project.
Only the files a project uses are placed on your server, in their published form, such as resized images, videos and downloadable files. Other files in your Maglr account are not.

Requirements for Sync to server

To use Sync to server, you need:

A Maglr Enterprise license.
A web server with FTP or SFTP access. Access can be restricted to the folder that Maglr writes to.
URL-rewrite support on the web server. Synced page URLs have no .html extension, so the server must apply the rewrite rules that Maglr includes. See URL rewrites and redirects.

Setting up Sync to server

Maglr sets up the connection for you. There is no setting for it in the dashboard. To set it up:

Contact Maglr at info@maglr.com to request Sync to server.
Give Maglr the connection details for your server. See Connection details Maglr needs.
Maglr configures the connection, a preview domain on Maglr and a production domain on your own server.
Test your projects on the preview domain.
Publish a project live to sync it to your own server. See Publishing a project to your own server.

For more technical information about this integration, contact info@maglr.com.

Connection details Maglr needs

Maglr needs the following details to connect to your server:

FTP: the host, the port (usually 21), a username and a password.
SFTP: the host, the port (usually 22) and a username, with an optional password. Maglr provides a public key that you configure on your server.
Folder: the folder on your server that Maglr writes the projects to.
URL path: the path under your domain where the publications appear, if they don't sit at the root of the domain, for example /publications.

Maglr is hosted on AWS in a cloud set-up without a static IP address. This means you can't allow Maglr's servers through a firewall by IP address.

Publishing a project to your own server

To publish a project to your own server:

Open the project in the dashboard.
Click Publish to open the publish panel. For a project that syncs to your server, the panel shows "Synchronize to live server".
If the switch at the bottom of the panel shows Project inactive, click it to set the project to active.
Click Publish live.
Wait until the progress messages finish. They show "Preparing project for remote server", "Generating the pages" and "Synchronizing pages to remote server".
Click the live URL shown under "Synchronize to live server" to open the project on your server.

The same steps publish later changes: Maglr uploads only the new and changed files.

Files placed on your server

Each sync places the following files on your server. Publishing always works per project.

Project folder: one folder per project, inside the folder configured for Maglr. The folder name is the project URL, which you can change in the Project settings. If you change the project URL, the folder on your server is renamed at the next sync.
HTML pages: a separate pre-rendered HTML file for each page. A Maglr publication runs largely in JavaScript, and search engines can't always index JavaScript pages properly. Each pre-rendered page contains the page's metadata, so search engines can read it.
Assets: all assets the project needs, including resized images, audio files, video files and minified HTML and JavaScript.
Rewrite and redirect rules: an .htaccess file (Apache) and a web.config file (Windows IIS). They contain the URL rewrites and redirects from earlier page URLs to current ones.
robots.txt: follows the Index for search engines setting in the domain's Statistics & integration settings. If indexing is off, the file disallows search engines. Maglr places it in the project folder, and search engines only read a robots.txt at the root of your domain, so your IT team may need to add its rules to the robots.txt at your domain root.
sitemap.xml: lists all current URLs of the publication for search engines.

Example folder structure

This example shows where the files of a synced project end up:

The URL path configured for Maglr: www.companyname.com/publications
A project with the URL annual-report is synced to: www.companyname.com/publications/annual-report
A page with the URL figures in that project is available at: www.companyname.com/publications/annual-report/figures

URL rewrites and redirects

Synced projects always use URL rewrites. Page URLs have no .html extension, and the rewrite rules map each URL to the page's HTML file. Your server must apply these rules. Without them, page URLs and the project's URL return an error, because the files on the server end in .html and the URLs don't.

The rules also redirect old page URLs. If you change a page URL in the Page settings, the old URL, for example one already indexed by Google, redirects visitors to the new one instead of showing a 404 error. Every sync updates the rules with all earlier URLs of the project's pages and their current versions.

Maglr includes the rules in two formats:

Apache: an .htaccess file.
Windows IIS: a web.config file.

Other web servers, such as nginx, don't read these files. On those servers, your IT team needs to set up equivalent rewrite and redirect rules. Contact Maglr for more information about other server environments.

Taking a synced project offline

When you set a synced project to inactive, Maglr deletes the project's folder from your server. Deleting the project also deletes its folder from your server. Publishing the project live again syncs it to your server again.

To take a synced project offline:

Open the project in the dashboard.
Click Publish to open the publish panel.
Click the Project active switch at the bottom of the panel. The panel now shows "Deactivate project".
Click Set inactive.

Editing a synced project

The synced version on your own server is static: you can't edit it on your server. To change a synced project, edit it in Maglr and publish it live again.

Maglr's latest player code is included in a project each time you publish it live. A project that you don't republish keeps the code from its last sync.

Features not available for synced projects

Some features are not available for projects that sync to your own server:

Security in the Project settings, such as password protection.
Share single page in the Share project options.

These options show the message "This project is set to be published on a remote server. This functionality is therefore not available." To restrict access to a synced project, add your own security layer on your server. See Adding your own security layer.

Adding your own security layer

Projects synced to your own server are static and don't need extra server components, so you can add your own access control on your server, such as a login for employees. Maglr's Security options, such as password protection, are not available for synced projects.

Disk space and traffic

The disk space a project needs depends on its content. Many assets or videos need more space. As a guide, a publication of around 10 pages needs about 50 MB.

Data traffic depends on the number of visitors. Because synced content is static, it can be served to large numbers of visitors, for example in combination with a CDN.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sync projects to an AWS S3 bucket?

Sync to server connects to your server over FTP or SFTP. Want to sync to AWS S3 or another storage service? Contact Maglr at info@maglr.com to discuss the options.

Can I password-protect a project that syncs to my own server?

No. Security in the Project settings, including password protection, is not available for projects that sync to your own server. You can add your own access control, such as an employee login, on your server instead.

What happens on my server when I set a synced project to inactive?

Maglr deletes the project's folder from your server. The same happens when you delete the project. When you publish the project live again, Maglr syncs it to your server again.

What does the "Sync time-out" message mean?

A "Sync time-out" message means the sync to your server stopped before it finished. The message reads "Sync time-out reached. Republish '[project name]' to continue." Publish the project live again to continue the sync.

Which web servers support the redirects of a synced project?

Maglr includes the rewrite and redirect rules for Apache (an .htaccess file) and Windows IIS (a web.config file). Other web servers, such as nginx, need equivalent rules set up by your IT team.

Does a synced project keep working if Maglr's servers are down?

Yes, mostly. The synced pages are static files on your own server, so they load without Maglr. Elements that load from Maglr, such as forms, don't work while Maglr's servers are down. Embedded content from other services depends on those services.

How much disk space does a synced project need?

It depends on the project's content: many assets or videos need more space. As a guide, a publication of around 10 pages needs about 50 MB.

Updated on: 20/10/2026