What Is the Purpose of CDN?
If you’re not updated with online trends and search words, that’s alright. We’re here to help educate you with everything cloud! Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) have seen a tremendous rise in the market today and website owners can’t be more thrilled about what they can do. There are plenty of boxes CDNs can tick off, but the primary purpose of CDN is to improve a website’s loading speed.
Defining the Technology
In order to fully appreciate what CDNs are fundamentally invented for, it’s best to understand that latency is what they are designed to get rid of (among other things, of course). Latency is the amount of time it takes for a web page to completely turn up. Think of clicking on a Youtube video and seeing a rotating circle on the video section instead of playing immediately—that’s latency.
In other words, CDNs are a complex system of servers that chat with each other and help each other distribute website content from all over. These servers, a.k.a Points of Presence, are strategically located in many parts of the globe to better serve those near them. So if you’re watching a Netflix movie and you’re from Australia or Canada or Jakarta, for example, it’s safe to say you’re consuming content extended by a CDN and not Netlfix’s actual web host origin.
When your website utilizes a CDN, your content gets to your audience much faster. A few CDNs also have the ability to optimize images and make sure your content appears accordingly depending on the device your user is viewing it from.
Can a CDN substitute web hosts, you ask?
The answer is no. CDNs aren’t meant to help you create a site from scratch. They do, however, store and cache content at your edge server—the server that’s proximally closest to where you are. Alternatively, it’s also important to know that web hosts are not designed to accommodate thousands of site visitors all at once, too. While a web host is great for helping house all of your designs and content, it’s not intended to transport what you have to offer in multiple places on the planet simultaneously.
By turning to a CDN, you automatically reduce your site’s hosting bandwidth and prevent it from major service interruptions. As an effect, this also improves overall website security. That said, CDNs do a great job of fulfilling what web hosts generally can’t.
How do CDNs secure my website?
It should come as no surprise that information security is important for any website. CDNs keep a website protected with updated TLS/SSL certificates that guarantee encryption, authentication, and integrity. BelugaCDN, for example, uses a myriad of tools to help secure your content 24/7.
How does it help me save money?
What several website owners don’t understand right away is CDN’s ability to reduce your web host costs. “But if I get a CDN, it’ll only be an additional cost.” Every time a site user opens a website and clicks on a blog post or a picture or a video (basically anything at all that can be clicked online), a request is being made by the user to the site owner. What not so many people understand is that bandwidth is consumed every single time a web host origin interacts with requests; this is why some website owners notice an increase in their bills.
When your website is covered by a CDN, bandwidth in your origin server is reduced so this also automatically impacts how much your bill turns out.
Does every website need it?
Every website can use it, but it might not benefit every single one. Remember that a CDN’s functionality is hinged on its ability to transmit content efficiently to a variety of regions and continents. When your site is mainly used to serve people in a small community or a specific group of clients in one large town, it might not be best.
CDNs impact sites that have a global audience the most. E-commerce businesses, for instance, should always be backed up by a CDN providers. Because their income comes from online shoppers who make their decisions based on how vividly a picture of a product item is—among other reviews and other external factors—loading time can be a make or break.
Skip your usual list of CDN and jump right into the best CDN there is in the market now. Learn more about how to get a BelugaCDN free trial.
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