A guide to content delivery networks

November 22, 2024

Every time a user accesses a website, it needs to send data from its server back to the origin device. When accessing data far from the origin server, the data has farther to travel. However, delays may impact large files without a content delivery network (CDN).

Sometimes referred to as a content distribution network, a CDN contains a series of servers that deliver web applications or web content based on their geographical location. This content may include data files of text, video, images, and so on — which often impact page load times.

A CDN offers additional servers in data centers, based in various physical locations around the world. These caching servers render copies of the content from the origin server, which then travel to the end user. Depending on their geolocation, the request will go to the closest CDN data center, and the data will go back as quickly as possible. This improves website performance and offers other commercial benefits.

CDN vs. cloud computing

While CDNs may sound similar to cloud computing, there’s a key difference. Cloud computing can serve content from geographically separate web servers. In addition, cloud computing offers services like on-demand data storage and computing power.

On the other hand, CDN providers focus solely on caching content for routing to end users in different locations via global data center locations.

Both CDNs and cloud computing involve serving content from multiple servers in various locations, while cloud computing covers a broader range of services beyond content delivery — for example, storage and computation.

How does a CDN work?

A reliable CDN service centers on connectivity that offers scalability and security, providing a better user experience. Typically, a content delivery network uses three types of servers:

Origin servers

The origin server is the original host location of your content. Its primary purpose is to wait for requests to come in — such as a visitor accessing a webpage — and process them.

Edge servers

An edge CDN server offers cached versions of static content, which reduces bandwidth consumption for origin servers. They are points of presence, providing access points of connection for multiple networks.

Domain name server (DNS) servers

DNS functionality takes a domain name and translates it into an IP address to access website content. Sometimes referred to as a phone book, the DNS answers the queries and signposts them to edge servers when necessary.

It’s possible to activate all three services with global requests. For example, if we have web traffic from London accessing a site in Los Angeles, we might see the initial request:

• Go to a DNS server

• Signpost to edge servers

The edge servers provide cached versions of content from the origin servers, thereby improving load times and web performance.

What are the benefits of using a CDN?

There are several CDN benefits for website owners, from reduced bandwidth costs to risk mitigation.

Faster page load times

Without a CDN, network traffic may have to travel significant distances, which slows downloading times. This may prove frustrating for users. A content delivery network provides a faster data transfer, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

Improved user experience

Page load times go hand in hand with the user experience. As organizations experiment with new mediums on websites and social media, this necessitates fast-loading images or video content. With access to more content formats and faster delivery of data, organizations can respond quicker.

Reduced downtime

A CDN distributes content across a network of servers, helping with load balancing. By storing files of data in a global data center with evenly distributed traffic, organizations can access uninterrupted uptime.

Worldwide coverage

Organizations that wish to expand their reach globally can rely on CDNs to access their data faster. This may be particularly helpful for financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and more industries.

Website security

As cyberthreats continue to advance, we see more cases of bots, distributed denial of service (DDoS), and ransomware attacks. A CDN offers DDoS protection by distributing malicious traffic requests. For example, when an attacker tries to overwhelm servers by sending bot traffic to a site, a CDN can ward this off with load balancing.

Equally, CDNs offer encryption layers when paired with updated Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security certificates. These layers protect against malicious activity that may lead to data breaches or network crashes.

Cost-effectiveness

By caching content, CDNs reduce bandwidth costs. This is pivotal in the digital environment to achieve consistency, speed, throughput, and reliability while streamlining network connectivity.

With each of these benefits in mind, CDN service providers are ideal for industries such as:

• Retail: Protecting against site crashes during high-traffic periods

• Media and entertainment: Helping users around the world access breaking news and video content

• Healthcare: Helping telemedicine patients get vital information faster, including diagnoses and prescription details

• Financial services: Offering enhanced security for customers when conducting financial transactions

• Service providers: Improving uptime for Software as a Service or SaaS providers

• Insurance: Allowing users to access policies and initiate claims

Integrating a CDN with cloud services helps multiple industries deliver web content faster. Cloud partners of Digital Realty can help these organizations create a scalable infrastructure for CDNs.

CDN storage

While CDNs are ideal for hosting dynamic content, they can also store large volumes of content media. Companies with significant storage requirements — for example, a financial services company with a vast amount of customer financial data — can offload their storage needs through caching.

These servers can store and serve content, freeing up infrastructure to handle traffic loads more effectively.

Expand your reach with global data centers built for connectivity

If you’re expanding your digital footprint, Digital Realty gives you the competitive edge. Our strategically positioned data centers drive edge services for CDNs, offering efficient storage and faster loading times.

We do this using PlatformDIGITAL®, our global meeting place for data collaboration, to securely deploy, connect, and control critical infrastructure at any capacity for any workload at any scale.

Get in touch today to learn more about PlatformDIGITAL® and unlock your data’s potential.

FAQs

What is an example of a CDN?
An example of a company that offers CDN services is Digital Realty. We work with partners including Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and many more.

How do I store data on a CDN?
To store data on a CDN, you need to host data on servers close to your customers. Our expert teams can advise you on migrating your data to one of our dedicated facilities.

Is a CDN an object storage?
A CDN works for object storage and unstructured data. They then can use object storage to cache and distribute content to users around the world.

What is the difference between a DNS and CDN?
A domain name service allows users to find the right web server by translating URLs into IP addresses. By comparison, a content delivery service allows this data to travel back to the end user faster using a network of edge servers to display cached content.

How does CDN improve performance?
A CDN improves performance by speeding up the delivery of content. Modern websites use programming languages such as HTML and JavaScript to create multimedia content. This can slow down page load times, particularly if the request needs to travel a significant distance to an end user. A CDN reduces this distance by caching content on edge servers.

What is the responsibility of a CDN?
A CDN has multiple responsibilities, primarily to reduce page load times for websites. In turn, this helps to increase uptime by distributing traffic demands across multiple servers.

How can I use a CDN for my website?
You can use a CDN for your website if you have significant storage needs, high-traffic volumes, or global traffic. A CDN will help to serve cached versions of your content all over the world, thereby increasing website speed and meeting user demands faster.