A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a group of servers distributed in different geographical locations around the world to allow the rapid delivery of the content of a website. It is also known as a content delivery network.
When a user connects to a website, the physical distance between the user and the web hosting server affects the time it takes for the content to appear on the screen. In addition to reducing bandwidth consumption, the globally distributed network of data centers improves the speed of content delivery for users, regardless of their location relative to the main server.
To achieve this, a caching system stores temporary copies of website files on the proxy server closest to the user, speeding up page load time.
If you are interested in learning about a CDN and how it works, this article may be the right one for you. We will talk about what a CDN is, how it works, its advantages and how to choose the right CDN provider.
How does a CDN work?
To understand how a CDN works, you must first understand what origin and edge CDNs are. An origin server is a computer that hosts the original version of your website files.
On the other hand, an edge server or CDN is a computer that can cache copies of web content retrieved from an origin server. Edge servers are located in physical data centers around the world, forming a geographically distributed network.
The benefits of a CDN depend on the size of your site, the location of the server relative to your primary traffic source, and the amount of traffic generated. For example, a local business with a physical location serving a small geographic area will not benefit greatly from a content delivery network.
However, if you’re an e-commerce business owner who needs more reach, or if your website generates a lot of traffic from multiple global locations, an efficient and fast CDN will help you maintain your competitive edge.
To help you understand the benefits of using a CDN, let’s compare the web content delivery process between two websites: one without a CDN and one that uses one.
When a user accesses a website without a CDN, the browser connects to the origin server and requests content from the site. In addition to delivering the requested data, the origin server responds to each subsequent request from the user. Static files are cached locally on the user’s computer.
The whole process consists of the user sending requests to the origin server and the origin server responds by delivering the content of the website. This procedure is the same regardless of the geographic location of the user.
The problem arises when the end user is far away from the origin server. The greater the distance between the two, the longer the page will take to load.
Also, since the origin server handles all user requests, web performance can suffer when workload increases due to traffic spikes.
In contrast, when a user accesses a website with a CDN, the browser connects and requests the content of the site from one of the edge servers. The chosen server is usually the one closest to the end user to reduce waiting time. Using multiple caching servers distributes traffic and prevents server overload.
The edge server then forwards the request to the origin server. After getting the data from the origin server, the edge server delivers it to the end user and stores the files in the local cache.
This means that the edge server will serve all subsequent requests using the cached files without having to get the data back from the origin server. Internet content stored at the edge of the network can also be delivered to the end user even if the origin server becomes inaccessible.
Therefore, the use of a CDN can improve the performance of the web and the user experience.
Understanding CDN services through an example
We will paint a hypothetical scenario to help you better understand the inner workings of a CDN.
Let’s say you operate an online store based in the United States. Your eCommerce website is hosted on an origin server located in New York. This web server stores all your website files.
Without a CDN, a customer accessing your website from Tokyo will most likely be faced with a slow loading site. This is because there is a large distance between the site visitor’s geographic location and your site’s origin server.
Using a CDN will speed up page load times. With a CDN, when the Tokyo-based user requests content from your website, the browser will retrieve data from one of the CDN’s edge servers or points of presence around the world, typically the one closest to the user’s location.
Connecting to a nearby CDN server reduces the distance between the user and the server, which improves the speed of content delivery.
Therefore, your site visitors will be able to enjoy fast site speed regardless of their geographic location.
What are the benefits of using a CDN?
To further explain why setting up a content delivery network is a crucial step in building a website, this section will look at the benefits of using a CDN in more detail.
Reduce bandwidth consumption
One of the biggest expenses with some is bandwidth. Reduce hosting costs by conserving the amount of bandwidth needed to handle your traffic through multiple points of presence.
A content delivery network (CDN) uses optimization methods such as caching, which involves placing static files in temporary storage on different computers for easy access. These methods help reduce overall server workload and bandwidth consumption.
Static content refers to data delivered to the end user without any modification. These files are the same for all users, regardless of who requests them. Examples include media files such as images and videos, as well as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.
Dynamic content, on the other hand, is data that cannot be cached on an Edge server. This is because the delivered content may differ based on variables such as user credentials or geographic locations. However, an advanced CDN’s network infrastructure and request routing algorithms can help speed up the delivery of dynamic content.
In short, the combined technologies that a CDN uses are useful for load balancing and lowering bandwidth costs.
Increase overall speed and performance
One of the biggest contributors to highs is latency. This is the delay between a user connecting to a site and the content of the web page appearing on the screen. It usually happens due to the following reasons:
- Delays in reading files due to locked storage.
- Setbacks in data processing from the web server.
- Type of data transmission, such as a fiber optic network versus coaxial cables.
- Propagation, or the speed at which data travels from one node to another.
Many of these problems can be solved or greatly reduced through the use of an effective content delivery network. Implementing numerous strategies will also help improve site speed and performance.
Combined, these efforts will also help search engines better understand your site. As a result, your ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) will improve, increasing site traffic.
Improve website security
When all data transfer is done from a single server, it increases your vulnerability to malicious events like Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and .
DDoS attacks are coordinated requests for information made from multiple geographic locations and by different users at a given time. They can also be implemented automatically through bots. The purpose is to cause origin servers to crash due to web traffic overload. The intent behind such attacks can range from sheer mischief to extortion and blackmail.
Attacks can continue for hours or even days, rendering the hacked website inaccessible. Using DDoS filters and spreading queries across multiple locations help mitigate these bursts of traffic.
A CDN can also keep hackers out and protect sensitive data from cybersecurity attacks. This can be achieved because CDNs divert web traffic from the original server to proxy servers, making the main source virtually invisible.
Also continuously to protect information transfers through authentication and data encryption. These certificates ensure that data security protocols are followed by allowing only the intended recipient to access and view the information. When a website has an SSL/TLS certificate, the URL starts with https:// instead of http://.
You can buy an SSL/TLS certificate or get one for free from trusted certificate authorities like . Many web hosting providers also offer free SSL/TLS certificates as part of their plans. For example, all plans include .
Optimize content distribution and availability
In addition to the speed of content distribution, the availability or redundancy of content is of the utmost importance. This refers to making sure that content remains accessible regardless of traffic or hardware failure.
Heavy traffic loads and hardware malfunctions can cause downtime that most websites simply can’t afford. Since the traffic capacity of a CDN exceeds that of origin servers, using one can help avoid interruptions in the normal operation of the website, ensuring that the website remains online and can serve content at all times.
By distributing traffic across multiple CDN servers, your core network infrastructure will have a lighter load to bear. This system also ensures that in the event that some servers experience an outage, people can continue to access the website, as other operational servers will handle the network traffic.
Here are some examples of who can benefit most from Internet content delivery with a CDN:
- E-commerce. These websites…
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