Edge Server or Origin? — TechKnowSurge

About this interactive

Communication across the planet is fast, but not instant: a user in South Africa reaching a server in the Pacific Northwest feels the delay. A content delivery network (CDN) is a network of machines around the world that deliver content. You subscribe, and those servers work for you. When the user does a DNS lookup for your site, it is redirected to the CDN server near her. That server answers from what it holds. Content gets there in one of two ways: you prepopulate it everywhere in advance, or the first request for it is fetched from your server, with a short delay, and cached, so every later user near that location gets it fast. Dynamic information, such as an account balance, a cart or a just-placed order, is not cached and always goes back to the main server. In the lesson's SaaS example, 97% of the content could be cached. The result is better performance and higher availability.

What you'll learn

Predict whether a request through a CDN is answered from the nearby CDN server or goes back to the site's own server, from whether the content is cached, prepopulated or dynamic
Explain how a CDN uses DNS redirection and caching across many locations to cut latency and improve availability

Aligned to

CompTIA Security+

3.1 Compare and contrast security implications of different architecture models.

Key terms

Content Delivery Network: A globally distributed network of servers that caches and delivers content to users from the nearest geographic location to improve performance and availability.
Caching: The process of storing copies of content on a server so future requests can be served faster without retrieving the original source.
Latency: The time delay between sending a request and receiving a response over a network.
Availability: The assurance that systems and data are accessible and operational when needed by authorized users.

Topics

Interactive Streak Sort

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