CDN: a versatile latency solver for your web-site
Since online commerce starts dominating, a lot of web-site developers start worrying about content delivery and loading speed. Despite the fact that the quality of content matters a lot, there is one undeniable fact: access to it can sometimes be problematic. To be successful, you should be able to transfer it around the world quickly and efficiently.
This is why CDN has been invented. Before we dive into the information about its business benefits, let’s discuss what a content delivery network is.
CDN seems to be a complicated phenomenon, but we will try to explain everything in layman’s terms. CDN is a system of servers connected with each other and spread around the globe to achieve geographical proximity with end-users. Geographical closeness is the main criteria for distributing web-content.
There are several key components of CDN infrastructure. Let’s observe them:
Let’s imagine that your end-user tries to access a web-site hosted on American server from China. Latency would be inevitable: data has to overcome so many miles to get to the request sender! However, if you order a CDN and have cache servers located in the USA, Europe and Asia, a user from China would be connected to the PoP in Asian region. Thus, the issue of distance between the origin server and end-user will be solved.
It is clear that CDN was created to solve the most annoying problem of Internet users – delay of web-site loading. Users hate waiting until the page will be opened, especially when it takes more than 3 seconds. This is what we call latency. It happens because of physical distance between the origin server and a user. To overcome latency, a CDN caches content in PoPs distributed in several locations, and sends info to the visitors.
Before we discuss it, mind one thing: if your business operated locally (in one city or region), and server is located close to users, CDN will be useless for you and may even cause performance troubles.
On the opposite, any international business would need content delivery support. Being an experienced online businessman you should know how modern users hate waiting for page loading, and how much site speed matters. If you specialize on entertainment, media, online games, marketing, or any other kind of large business, an appropriate content delivery network would bring you inestimable support.
Together with making your web-site pages load instantly, CDN have many other benefits for business:
If you want to implement a CDN, the process will take you 10 minutes only. First, you will need to get to root domain configurations and check the compatibility of its subdomains. The best providers supply detailed instructions and assistance in setting CDN up.
CDN is a highly effective business solution that would be appropriate for any web-site, any sphere. Its cost is totally justified by improved end-user experience and the number of problems it solves.
This is why CDN has been invented. Before we dive into the information about its business benefits, let’s discuss what a content delivery network is.
What the CDN architecture consists of?
CDN seems to be a complicated phenomenon, but we will try to explain everything in layman’s terms. CDN is a system of servers connected with each other and spread around the globe to achieve geographical proximity with end-users. Geographical closeness is the main criteria for distributing web-content.
There are several key components of CDN infrastructure. Let’s observe them:
- - PoPs, or so-called Points of Presence, are datacenters where visitors are directed to get their content. They are strategically placed in proximity to users to ensure fast content loading.
- - Cache Servers serve for delivery – they are located in PoPs that play the role of storage spots. In order to work better, servers need enough space and RAM resources. Servers speed up web-site loading and make bandwidth consumption lower.
- - SSD/HDD & RAM are memory and storage drives deployed in every server to keep data safe and send it to users.
How does it work?
Let’s imagine that your end-user tries to access a web-site hosted on American server from China. Latency would be inevitable: data has to overcome so many miles to get to the request sender! However, if you order a CDN and have cache servers located in the USA, Europe and Asia, a user from China would be connected to the PoP in Asian region. Thus, the issue of distance between the origin server and end-user will be solved.
A perfect way to deal with latency
It is clear that CDN was created to solve the most annoying problem of Internet users – delay of web-site loading. Users hate waiting until the page will be opened, especially when it takes more than 3 seconds. This is what we call latency. It happens because of physical distance between the origin server and a user. To overcome latency, a CDN caches content in PoPs distributed in several locations, and sends info to the visitors.
Why your business needs its own CDN?
Before we discuss it, mind one thing: if your business operated locally (in one city or region), and server is located close to users, CDN will be useless for you and may even cause performance troubles.
On the opposite, any international business would need content delivery support. Being an experienced online businessman you should know how modern users hate waiting for page loading, and how much site speed matters. If you specialize on entertainment, media, online games, marketing, or any other kind of large business, an appropriate content delivery network would bring you inestimable support.
What are the advantages of CDN for business?
Together with making your web-site pages load instantly, CDN have many other benefits for business:
- - They ensure content security. In essence, CDN ensured outside access to your domain, so you have one more protection layer. Today, CDNs are equipped with excellent cybersecurity and provide effective firewalls against hackers.
- - Load balancing. As it has been mentioned before, CDN makes virtual copies of your files and stores them in several PoPs, which decreases the load on the origin server and prevents traffic spikes. Once a traffic jam is noticed on one of servers, CDN will automatically redirect end-users to a free server.
It is a simple solution
If you want to implement a CDN, the process will take you 10 minutes only. First, you will need to get to root domain configurations and check the compatibility of its subdomains. The best providers supply detailed instructions and assistance in setting CDN up.
CDN is a highly effective business solution that would be appropriate for any web-site, any sphere. Its cost is totally justified by improved end-user experience and the number of problems it solves.
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