subject: How CDN works [print this page] How CDN works How CDN works
Website Without Content Delivery Network (CDN)
For a conventional website which is without CDN, all the contents, images, files, videos are served from a single server from a single location.
When there is a sudden surge of traffic, the standalone server may be congested.
When the single server is down, all the contents become inaccessible.
Website Powered by Content Delivery Network (CDN)
For a website powered by CDN, the static content, images, videos and files are copied and cached at the CDN EDGE servers around the world.
When the static content is called, it will be served from the nearest CDN server.
Website powered by CDN can load faster and can handle larger amounts of traffic, including sudden surge of traffic.
Sample Scenarios:
Your website hosted at Colorado, the United States of America (USA).
Without CDN:
All traffic is served from your server in the USA, your website visitors outside the USA may experience slower loading speed.
When you have sudden surge of traffics, your website maybe overloaded.
With CDN:
Dynamic contents are served from your primary server in USA, your visitors from Asia may retrieve your website static contents from CDN server in Asia. Your website load as fast as were hosted from the same local region.
When there is a sudden surge of traffic, website will still be loading smoothly
CDN Is Almost Transparent For Your Visitors
I said "almost" because for your visitors, they don't have to do anything or adjust any settings in order to view your website which is powered by InstantCDN; the only difference is that they will notice that your website actually loads much faster than it previous did.
