CDN (Content Delivery Network)

CDNs accelerate content delivery by serving cached resources from edge servers near users, reducing latency and protecting origin infrastructure from traffic spikes.

Why it matters

• Reduces page load times by 50-80% for globally distributed users.
• Offloads bandwidth from origin servers, cutting infrastructure costs.
• Provides DDoS protection by absorbing malicious traffic at the edge.
• Improves SEO rankings through faster page performance metrics.
• Ensures availability during traffic surges or origin outages.

How it works

• Edge Servers: Globally distributed cache nodes that store content copies.
• Origin Server: Primary infrastructure that holds authoritative content.
• Cache Control: HTTP headers define what content is cached and for how long.
• Anycast Routing: Directs users to the nearest available edge server.
• Cache Invalidation: Purges outdated content across the network.

What CDNs deliver

• Static Assets: Images, CSS, JavaScript, fonts, and downloadable files.
• Dynamic Content: API responses and personalized pages via edge compute.
• Video Streaming: Adaptive bitrate streaming for media content.
• Software Distribution: Application updates and package downloads.

Security benefits

• DDoS mitigation through distributed traffic absorption.
• Web Application Firewall (WAF) integration at the edge.
• TLS/SSL offloading and certificate management.
• Bot detection and rate limiting capabilities.

Performance optimization

• Image optimization and format conversion (WebP, AVIF).
• Brotli and Gzip compression for text assets.
• HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 protocol support.
• Edge compute for dynamic content transformation.