What is a Content Delivery Network?
‘CDN’ which stands for content delivery network, is a server setup that paves the way to a faster, and more organized transfer of your clients’ media files. This happens as it ensures that copies of media files are made and maintained at different points of presence or POPs within a global network so that clients can have a quicker access to these files as delivery is made as fast as possible. In other words, it is a computer system that stores and produces copies of data being placed on a variety of strategic points on a network.In general, CDNS are used to have a maximize use of bandwidth for the access of data for users. In this case, the users are sent to the nearest server where there are copies of their files. Hence, bottlenecks are avoided at the main server. Should you not want to provide a slow performance to your customers by making them wait longer while downloading their photos or videos or files in general, then content delivery network is really the answer to make it possible.Using CDN can benefit both your website and company for some reasons:First of all, using CDN makes it fast for users to download their files. This is because these users are automatically redirected to the nearest server where the copy of the data is stored instead of being stuck in the original server.Secondly, it is obvious how CDN produces copies and duplicates for the files. Hence, even if one server fails and malfunctions, problems will not arise as data backup are available in other servers. Hence, website uptime remains constant.Thirdly, CDN promotes data integrity. If one updates or publishes new content, the changes will automatically reflect to the copies of the other servers. This ensures that data remains consistent even if duplicates are made to the whole network.Fourth, CDN lets you experience the benefits of high-capacity infrastructures. Even if you have the best hosting but it lacks the scalability or capacity offered by popular search engines, it would be useless. With CDN, higher availability and lower packet loss as well as lower network latency are offered.Fifth, data and files are distributed. Since servers are across the globe, even if your main server is miles away from the other servers, files are still accessed as good as how they can be accessed in main servers. A lot of CDNs offer localized data centers which are nearer to the user and results to a faster downloading experience.Sixth, CDNs have a built-in version control. More often than not, it will be possible to connect to a specific version of a JavaScript library or a CSS file. Users are given the chance to request the most updated versions if needed.Lastly, CDNs provide a boosted performance which means more money is saved. Since CDNs can distribute the load, it means bandwidth is also saved and performance is boosted. Hence, costs are reduced.As a website owner, especially if your website is a business website that caters to a lot of visitors, it is essential for you to make your site run as smooth and fast as possible to retain your customers. You can never afford losing a customer because of downtimes or server failures right? With the help of CDN, your worries will be gone.
