The CDN Security or content loading speed is an indicator that affects user loyalty and the site’s position in search engines. According to search engines, slow download speed increases the number of refusals (user departures). So, if the page loads for 6 seconds, it reaches 106%.
CDN technology is used to open sites with a large amount of data faster. In the article we will tell you what main problems it helps solve.
How does CDN work?
How data transfer works on a regular hosting:
- The client (i.e. the user’s browser) requests content from the server where the data is stored.
- The server processes the request & sends a data packet in response.
- The site is loading safely.
CDN hosting (Content Delivery Network) adds another component to this simple equation – servers on which part of the content or the entire page is cached. They are located between the server and the end user, store information from different sites for fast loading and transfer it to each other.
CDN hosting is provided by providers. They host a network of interconnected caching CDN servers in different parts of the world. Due to this, the distance between the clients and the main server does not affect the data transfer rate. Sites that use CDN hosting load faster.
Let’s consider what tasks CDN hosting helps in solving.
- Increases the site loading speed
Suppose your project has a large audience, and people from different countries visit the site. If all files are stored on the same server, which is located, for example, in Poland, the loading speed of the site will differ with the distance from the server. Those who live nearby will receive content at a good speed.
But if a visitor lives in the Far East, he will wait a long time for the content to load.
To ensure that the download speed does not depend on the geography of users, choose CDN hosting. In this case, requests from users remote from the main server will be automatically forwarded to the nearest CDN server (for example, in Magadan), and there will be no speed problems.
- Unloads the main server
Now websites consist of static and dynamic content. Static refers to the content of the page that does not change: texts, pictures, video and audio files, scripts. This is “heavy” content that needs to load quickly from users. Dynamic refers to files that are displayed differently by different users. For example, location, gender, recommendation block, browsing history.
Dynamic and static content create a different load on the server. The first uses RAM, and the second depends on the network speed. If both kinds of content are stored on the same server, this creates a double load on it, so pages can take longer to load.
CDN hosting helps to solve this problem. Part of the site (static content) is transferred to servers from CDN networks, and dynamic content remains on the main server. This way, the load is distributed and the pages load faster.
- Increases security
If you store data on only one server, this makes your site less resistant to cyber attacks, for example, DDoS Protection (Distributed Denial of Service). In this case, attackers will bombard the server with a mass of requests / requests to cause interruptions in its operation. When the server “lies down”, the site will be unavailable.
When using CDN hosting, requests to your site will be processed by several servers at once, depending on the location of the “clients”. This means that the load will be distributed evenly, and the site will continue to work, despite attempts to reduce the performance of the resource.
To read more about CDN, follow the link https://www.akamai.com/products/bot-manager.
