Published on May 8th, 2017 | by Guest

How CDN Works and Why You Should Use It

CDN providers have a simple goal of serving content to end users. Content such as text, graphics, media files, documents, applications such as e-commerce websites, live streaming media etc. are examples of internet content served by Content Delivery Network providers. Media companies and e-commerce vendors that produce content pay CDN providers in a bid to spread their content and deliver it to the end users. These CDN providers, then pay Service Providers and Network Operators to host its servers in their data centers.

What Is a CDN And How Does It Work?

A CDN delivers content from your website or mobile app to people (end-users) in a quicker and much more efficient way. This is also based on geographic location, as the CDN closest to a user is usually known as the edge server. When people try to access a website served through a CDN, they get connected to the closest edge server in their location.

Increase in website speed

One major reason you need a Content Delivery Network is speed. There is a need to constantly improve the user experience visitors have when they visit your website. Your website might be slow in loading when visitors or users try going on your website from a location different from where it was hosted. If a website is hosted in a particular region and has many of its users coming from another region, the speed of the website might not be as fast as it is expected to be. But, with the use of a global CDN, users from a different region would be able to download static from a closer source. Instead of virtually traveling all the way to source from a server in a far region, they can connect to a server close to them. This helps to reduce latency and in turn, increase the speed of the website.

Reduction in website downtime

As much as CDNs help provide a better and faster experience for visitors to your website, they also prevent your website from crashing, peradventure there is a sharp increase in traffic. With CDNs, the bandwidth is distributed across multiple servers, rather than allowing one server to handle all the traffic. This reduces the load on one server and helps reduce website crash.

Easier and faster delivery of content

Content on a website served by a CDN gets to the end-users faster as it doesn’t need to go all the way to the company’s original servers, content only needs to travel to a nearby edge server close to the user. CDNs also bring about faster load times for the web and mobile users. It minimizes the risk of having traffic spikes, thereby ensuring stability and generally ensuring better site performance.

The cost of making use of CDNs vary. This is because it is a third-party service and can range from expensive to cost-effective and affordable, depending on what the clients need it for. Its cost depends on factors such as bandwidth, region reach, and security needs. The budget and needs of the client determine the cost of making use of CDNs.

Tags: CDN, use, works