In order to minimize the delay on a network, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) is used for providing a series of alternate servers that are physically spread across the world. Deploying static image on these servers helps in delivering these images quickly and minimizing the download time.
So, in this article, I’ll share with you the working, the usage as well as the need for a CDN to host your images.
What is a CDN?
A content delivery network is used for defining a system of several computers containing replicas of data stored across different nodes. A well designed and rightly implemented CDN helps in improving the data access by increasing bandwidth and minimizing access latency. Usually, a CDN can comprise of web objects, applications, database queries along with downloadable data objects and media streams. A well-established CDN could consist of several computer nodes networked over the Internet for providing the users with access to a large volume of media and data. The functionalities under a CDN could be inclusive of- file accessibility, application processing, multimedia delivery as well as caching. An entire CDN holds the ability to exhibit functionalities that are made possible due to the participation of every individual CDN node.
How CDN Works
A CDN holds replicas of the static resources of the user website and then caching these across alternate servers that might be geographically scattered. When there is a visitor on the user website, then the website fetches the user with core and dynamic content. The user can update the content frequently or even a local database in real-time, however, the static content (mostly images) use their source URLs rewritten and that is delivered from different dispersed servers.
Types of CDN
Usually, the following are two essential basic setups for any CDN- peer-to-peer (P2P) network model and a peering/private model.
- Peer-to-peer Network Model
This type of CDNs are very decentralized and are made up of mainly computers of individual users that have given everyone access to look for certain files to be extracted from the server known as a tracker. With a P2P model, it becomes technically feasible for the users to host their website and its associated files. However, in a P2P CDN model, security remains a huge concern and the entire process of cumulating the files at one place is a hassling task.
- Peering/Private CDN Model
In this CDN model, the organization maintains a network of servers spread across a geographic area. Here, each server holds replicas of the user-saved files and when there is a visitor on the website, they can download the files directly from the server that is geographically located closest to them. By deploying a peering/private CDN model, it helps in speeding up the loading times and secures the websites from crashing.
Why Use a CDN
By using CDN for image hosting, the user gains the following benefits-
- Speed
With a CDN in place, the user assures that the visitors of his website get the files directly from a server that is geographically located closer to them. This helps in reducing the distance that the file has to travel, and also reducing the number of steps and relays that the file has to take. Both of these factors help in enhancing the delivery speed. This is of great help when it comes to the image files, as the big-sized images take longer time to load as compared to the smaller ones. In the case of smaller images, the visitors tend not waiting longer for the images to load.
- Hosting Alternates
Any user wishes to use the web server for a number of reasons. The concern rests with the fact that visitors of the website are located elsewhere in the world, resulting in the chances of lower loading and accessing speeds. With a CDN deployed, it becomes easier to select the main server as well as the hosting provider that can meet the needs of a website visitor.
- Reliability
An online CDN is known for delivering redundancy. There is a constant risk of a web server experiencing issues by the means of either physical damage of glitches in the software. Having CDN deployed, in case a node is unavailable, then the network can itself reconfigure for delivering data from the best node to the users. For a website, it is a proven method that using images helps in increasing the viewership. Having a single server can hinder the website performance during a traffic surge, but with a CDN, the networks distribute the load by redirecting image requests across different CDN servers.
- Scalability
A majority of the computing services face two major problems as their online business expands. The first concern is the outgrowing of their website beyond the current setup. The second concern remains altering the setup can be time-consuming for the user. However, with a CDN in place, it helps the users to overcome these shortcomings with ease. An extra node can be added with an increased cost and no delays.
- Security
CDN solutions are used by some website owners for handling highly confidential and sensitive data. This helps the website owners to provide a top-notched cyberdefense against attempts made for hacking. These security mechanisms are applied on a wide level so that every visitor is benefitted.
Concluding Remarks
CDN helps in reducing the time taken by a web hosting server for processing, receiving and then finally delivering the content to the end-user. It helps in minimizing the bandwidth and ultimately the user experience. For a website point of view, it enhances its rank with accessibility to the website content across the globe. In case of situations like- cyberattack, traffic surges, network downtimes, the website data remains safe across all the servers.
So, if you’re looking to improve your SEO score with happier and satisfied customers, select web hosting solutions from bodHOST to leverage completely new interactions that take place between your website and applications with the Internet.