Lesson 8 / 25
CDN usage and optimization
Leverage Content Delivery Networks to reduce latency and improve global performance.
CDN principles and selection
CDN caches content at edge locations closest to users, reducing round-trip time. Popular options: Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront, Akamai. Choose based on coverage, performance in your target regions, and pricing.
CDN configuration best practices
Configure cache TTL, compression, HTTP/2 push rules, and geographic routing. Monitor cache hit rate (target >90%). Use origin shielding to reduce load on primary servers. Purge cache after deployments.
CDN performance measurement
Monitor TTFB from different geographic regions. Use tools like Speedtest.net, WebPageTest with various locations. A/B test with/without CDN to quantify improvement (typically 30-50%).
Quick check
Quick check: What is a typical cache hit rate target for CDN?
- >90%
- >50%
- >70%