The acronym CDN which in English means Content Delivery Network and here for us means Content Distribution Network. It is a large group of servers, which in turn are able to allow web content to be available in an easy, safe and fast way. That's what CDN is.
The most popular and used content distribution networks around the world are Google Cloud, The Cloudflare, Impervate, Akamai It is StackPath But you can be sure that Cloudflare leads the way. Not to mention that it is really the favorite among users.
Our recommendation is that you use a content delivery network on your website, you can opt for free or paid plans and enjoy many features. Not to mention its configuration, which is very easy and will not have any complications.
By November 2019, the number of internet users reached 4.1 billion users, which represents practically more than half of the world's population.
And it's clear that these days virtually all of them want in addition to receiving high quality content, they want it as quickly as possible. That's why a CDN is essential for your online projects.
What is content?
So before we get directly into the subject and explain to you what a CDN network is, and how the content is delivered to the user, it is important that you also understand what content is.
In short, content is any and all types of elements, which can be in the form of text, video and even audio on a website. Know that there are 2 types of content, Static content and Dynamic content.
So Static content, in turn, is one whose original version, which is the input version, is what users see on the posted page. In short, it will remain the same, and is not modified.
In this case, the server then gives the same type of data to each user, and due to this, the content delivery is much faster. Not to mention that it is a very simple process, where the user makes a request to the internet server to be able to access a file, and at the same time the server delivers the requested content.
And Dynamic content is content that changes based on its original version, which is also the input version. It, in turn, is customized for different pages, depending of course on user requests.
Just so you can better understand a brief example of Dynamic content on a product page, this page usually contains the name of the product, a value, a description of the product, and also illustrative images.
How does a CDN work?
A content distribution network simply reproduces the content, which in turn is stored in the central server database within your website hosting.
And the reproduced version of all content on the site will be saved in various places around the world, which are called Points of Presence. And these Points are the places where more than 2 networks connect to each other.
Without a CDN network, when a person tries to access a web page, then the computer instantly sends an access request to the central server to access the content. Then the central server responds to the request and presents the content to the person.
But be aware that this whole process takes a little time to complete, as the distance between the user and the central hosting server is what will determine the speed of this process.
A very simple example, and easy to understand, it will take much longer for a user located in the city of São Paulo to get a response from the server located in Europe. Or vice versa, because users from there also access sites from here.
But using a network that distributes its content things are different, because instead of taking the user's request to the central server, the user will then receive an identical copy of all the data, which is content already stored previously, from the internet server who is closest to him.
Which makes content delivery much faster, as the CDN network uses a mapping system that can assess the real location of users and servers. And if the server closest to the user for some reason is unable to deliver the content. Then it will quickly search for other servers.
And there's more, suppose the data didn't exist, or else it hadn't been stored, then in that case the CDN server will contact the central server to provide the content. This will be stored in order to be able to meet future requests.
To summarize for you what a CDN is, know that such a network has several data centers spread in various places on our planet. In this way Pops consist of a grouping of many servers.
And it is these servers that work tirelessly to accelerate the entire process of delivering content to thousands of users, according to the request they made.
Discover the benefits of using:
Maybe you're wondering now: but why do I need to use a CDN network in my online projects such as websites, blogs and virtual stores, among others? And the answer to that is very simple.
Simply because the network that distributes the content will improve the speed of your online projects, it will further improve the security of your sites, protecting you and especially your visitors.
Not to mention the improvement in making content available much faster, reducing your internet latency, and the cost, which is not such an expensive service for its quality. Some companies offer great free plans.
Types of websites that need to use a CDN:
Well, not every type of business on the internet needs to use it, but on the other hand others cannot live without it, such as a large E-commerce that receives a large number of visits from all over the world.
If the store fails when the visitor closes the purchase, he will immediately go to another site, and you will lose the sale, but having CDNs servers you do not run that risk, because an identical and secure copy of the site will be shown to the customer who then you can buy with peace of mind.
Online gaming sites also cannot live without, all due to the huge amount of resources they need. In addition to always having to deliver the best content, there are still dribbles with performance issues in some games.
They allow entire online games to be hosted on one server, making a direct request to the central server virtually nil.
Digital advertising sites, on the other hand, use types of ads that are based on multimedia in order to generate engagement with the public, and of course to be able to make sales.
And as this type of site also requires a lot of resources to work with due to the large amount of advertising, which would completely slow it down. Which in turn would cause visitors to leave quickly as no one likes to access slow sites. In that case, a content distribution network would easily solve the problem.
And entertainment sites would never survive without a content distribution network, because in this case, content is the main factor of media and entertainment. From downloads to streaming, know that content in these formats can attract thousands of visitors from all over the world. So an entertainment site needs a good CDN a lot.
Big blogs also need to use it, after all they are accessed from many places around the world, and this would only help in delivering the content to the user.
Quick conclusion:
So, now you know what a CDN is, and that it is a Content Distribution Network, you also know that it is essential for both visitors and website owners.
You can and should use a network of servers to distribute your content if your online business needs to load much faster, and it also has a cost which is not the greatest. As mentioned, there are great free plans to get you started.
That way your site will be protected from attacks, you won't have problems with high volume of traffic, which will leave you with much more free time to focus only on the content you are going to deliver to your visitor.
And that's it, we're done here, we hope we've helped you understand once and for all what a CDN is, how it works, its benefits, why you should use it, and what types of sites really need one.
Now it's up to you to choose whether or not to use a network to distribute your content, big hug and success?
