Interesting Goodies, Web, Photos, Writing, & More
What Is CDN and How Can It Help My Web Site?

What Is CDN and How Can It Help My Web Site?

CDN stands for “Content Delivery Network” and it is a very clever method of speeding up Web site data delivery. The behind-the-scenes implementation is complicated, but the basic principles are easy to understand. To figure it all out, let’s start by looking at a “traditional” Web site delivery system.

 

As you know, a Web site is made up of many parts. These include HTML files (including the base “pages”), images (such as photos), and files to make it all work. These site files reside on a computer called a “server”. A visitor to your site uses a browser such as Firefox, Edge, or Chrome. That browser asks for a Web page, and the server sends (or “serves”) all the materials to the visitor.

 

Cool, right?

 

Well, let’s say that your site’s visitor is located in Albany, New York, but your server is in eastern Oregon. What? Why? How? As it turns out, there are major server farms in Oregon where electricity is cheap. Other popular server locations include Washington State and Utah. Your site server could be in any of those places or Connecticut. It might be in Schenectady. The fact is, it could be any place.

 

But, if your visitor is in Albany, and the server is in Prineville, Oregon, delivery of your site can be slow because the distance is so great. Who wants a slow site?

 

A CDN duplicates your site in many locations using a technique called “caching”. The site files are “cached” on other servers around the country, and maybe the world. When a browser asks for site files they are sent from the nearest server.

 

That means if your visitor is from Albany, New York the site files may be delivered from Pennsylvania instead of Idaho. Your site is now faster and more reliable. It is more reliable because it is cached at several locations, and if one server goes down the others are still available and working.

 

The trick, then, is how to you implement a CDN? Unless we are involved in some sort of gigantic operation, such as a big corporation, most of us do not have the ability to set up or use a CDN. But, some hosting companies use CDN for their customers! We can take advantage of a CDN by simply choosing the right hosting companies.CDN Maps

Special Note to Blue Host Customers Who Use WordPress

 

WordPress users who have Blue Host accounts can implement a CDN at no charge. To find out more about it, log into your Blue Host cPanel and click the WordPress Tools link at the top of the page. Click the Performance link on the left and you will discover what you need to know.

 

NOTE: If you are using the free SLL certificate on Blue Host, you cannot use the CDN. These two features are not compatible.