Content Delivery Networks: Speeding Up Global Access
How Content Delivery Networks Speed Up Access Worldwide Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) help websites reach people faster by storing copies of files in many places around the world. When a user asks for a page, the CDN serves the content from the closest location. This reduces distance, lowers latency, and speeds up loading of images, scripts, and videos for visitors far away from the origin server. CDNs work with edge servers, caching, and smart routing. They place servers in major cities and regions, so requests travel a short distance. When a user makes a request, DNS and routing guide the user to a nearby edge node that already has the content. If the item is not cached yet, the origin server provides it once and the CDN caches it for future requests. The next user from the same area gets the content faster from the edge cache. For example, a shopper in Tokyo will often see quickly loaded product images if they are cached on a Tokyo edge server. ...