Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)

A Content Delivery Network, or CDN, is a critical component for any modern website that wants to deliver a fast, reliable, and secure experience to its users. This article will connect you to all of our articles on CDNs. Here, we’ll cover the fundamental concepts of what a CDN is, how it works, and the significant benefits it can bring to your website.

What is a CDN?

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a geographically distributed network of servers that work together to provide fast delivery of internet content. The primary goal of a CDN is to reduce latency – the delay you experience from the moment you request to load a web page to the moment its content actually appears on your screen.

Think of it like this: if your website’s server (the origin server) is located in Michigan, a user trying to access it from Japan would normally have to wait for their request to travel all the way to Michigan and back. A CDN shortens this distance by storing a cached version of your website’s content in multiple geographical locations worldwide, known as Points of Presence (PoPs). When the user in Japan visits your site, they are connected to the PoP closest to them, dramatically speeding up the loading time.

How Does a CDN Work?

A CDN works by caching, or storing, copies of your website’s static content (like images, CSS, and JavaScript files) on its network of servers. Here’s a simplified breakdown of the process:

1. When a user visits your website for the first time, their request goes to your origin server.
2. The CDN, which sits between your user and your origin server, then pulls the requested content from your origin server and delivers it to the user.
3. The CDN also saves a copy of this content on its edge servers (the servers within the PoPs).
4. The next time a user in the same geographic area requests that content, the CDN can deliver it directly from the nearby edge server, bypassing the origin server altogether.

This process significantly reduces the load on your origin server and accelerates content delivery to the user.