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If firms want to maintain the level of service as they grow their web presence, a reliable, scalable content delivery network is a worthy investment.
FREMONT, CA: A content delivery network (CDN) is a set of servers set up in various locations worldwide to offer web content over an extensive geographic area much faster. A CDN or distribution network provides several points of presence (PoP) outside the origin server. This allows websites to better handle traffic by handling user requests more rapidly, providing an overall better experience. People are using a CDN every time they visit a high-traffic site or catch up with their friends on social media platforms. Their data centers keep all to bring content quickly regardless of the geographic location of individual users or the major website server. Read on to know more.
An origin server is a computer that has the original version of the web files. Without a CDN, the site visitors will request information and respond directly from the site’s primary source. If each request has to return to the origin server, the website’s workload will increase. The longer the distance between the user and an origin server, the longer the user will have to wait. That is why using a CDN can assist in decreasing latency as it mitigates the number of networks that must be crossed by a request and its response in reaching the destination.
A CDN can also guard the origin server against DDoS attacks or other online threats by masking the origin server and proxies requests from visitors, making the source practically invisible. An edge server is a computer that can cache content from a server. It is located in one of the present points, which are physical data centers spread across the world. CDN edge servers provide connections between separate networks, enabling traffic to flow rapidly and efficiently from one location to another. To mitigate the workload on an origin server and decrease the distance between a visitor and a web server, a CDN edge server has content in strategic locations as close to the visitor as possible.