Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a system of distributed networks that deliver pages and other web content to a user, based on the geographic location of the requesting user. The closer the Content Delivery Network (CDN) server is to the user geographically, as a result, the faster the content will be delivered to the requesting user.
Content Delivery Network (CDN) consists of two components:-
- First, Origin Server- where the content to be distributed over the internet is stored originally.
- And, Cache Server- where the content is duplicated.
How CDN Works?
Network (Server) which is nearest to the visitor’s website will respond to the request of the visitor. After that, it copies the pages of a website to a network of servers and disperses them across different geographical locations, caching the content of the page.
Whenever a user requests a webpage that is part of a CDN, it will redirect the request from the originating site’s server to a server in the CDN that is closer to the user and after that deliver the cached content to the user. It will also communicate with the originating server to deliver any content that has not been previously cached.
Benefits of Using CDN:-
- Generally, it Improves the website load time
- Improves content accessibility across the globe
- Reducing bandwidth costs
- Increasing content availability and redundancy
- Improving website security
Few Examples of CDN Providers:-
- RACKSPACE
- GOOGLE CLOUD CDN
- MAX CDN
- AKAMAI
- SWARMIFY
- LIMELIGHT
- MICROSOFT AZURE CDN
- AMAZON CLOUDFRONT
- CLOUDFLARE
- KEY CDN
- STACKPATH CDN
- SOFTLAYER CDN
- INCAPSULA COTENT DELIVERY NETWORK
- CACHE FLY
- CDN 77
MaxCDN –
Its servers are equipped with fast SSD drives spread across data centers around the world. It is super easy to install and setup MaxCDN in WordPress. However, it works beautifully with popular WordPress caching plugins like W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache.
Cloudflare –
It is well known for their free CDN offerings on small websites. However, keep in mind that their free plan includes limited DDoS protection and does’t have all the features included in their paid plans. In addition, they also have an ‘I am under attack Mode’ feature.
KeyCDN –
It offers pay as you go plans, which means you pay for what you use instead of fixed monthly payment. In addition, they offer a powerful network of servers spread across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions.
Akamai Content Delivery Network (CDN) –
It is an American CDN and cloud service provider with one of the world’s largest distributed computing platforms, responsible for serving between 15% and 30% of all the web traffic.
Amazon Cloudfront –
Its servers are located in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, as well as in several major cities of the US. And this service operates on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Google Cloud Content Delivery Network (CDN) –
Is it based on Google’s globally distributed edge points of presence? By operating an extensive global network of interconnection points we can bring Google traffic closer to our peers, thereby reducing their costs and providing users with a better experience.
Microsoft Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) –
It is a global CDN for audio, video, applications, images, and other static files. And it can be used to cache static assets of a website geographically which is closer to the user to increase performance.
CDN Performance Analytics and Comparison:
Comparison among different CDN providers’ uptime in past one year: https://www.cdnperf.com/#!rum,world,2019-01-22
Comparison among different CDN providers’ performance in past one year: https://www.cdnperf.com/#!performance,world,2019-01-22
In conclusion, CDN is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers. The goal is to provide high availability and high performance by distributing the service spatially relative to end-users. In our future blogs, we will discuss leading CDN providers of upcoming years.
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