What is a CDN?

A Content Delivery Network, or CDN, is a distributed network of servers strategically positioned across various geographical locations to enhance the performance, reliability, and speed of delivering web content to end-users. The primary purpose of a CDN is to optimize the delivery of web pages, images, videos, and other assets by reducing latency and minimizing the physical distance between the user and the server hosting the content.

Key Components of a CDN:

1. Edge Servers: These are the network of servers distributed globally. They store cached copies of your website's content and deliver them to users based on their location.

2. L1 Cache Servers: These are the first tier of cache infrastructure after the Edge layer. Usually, this layer of servers sits very next to the edge servers. Medianova’s L1 cache architecture uses a patented technology called EdgeCache to increase the hit ratio to more than 98.5%.

3. L2 Cache Servers: This is the second layer of caching on the CDN architecture.

4. Origin Server: The original server where your website's content is hosted. The CDN retrieves and caches content from the origin server to reduce its load.

5. Points of Presence (PoPs): These are the locations where CDN servers are strategically placed. The goal is to have PoPs close to end-users to reduce latency and improve content delivery speed.