A CDN, or Content Delivery Network, is a geographically distributed network of servers and their data centers. The goal of a CDN is to serve content to users with high availability and high performance. By distributing content across multiple servers located in different geographic locations, a CDN can reduce the distance between the user and the server, thereby reducing latency and improving load times.
For example, when a user requests a video from a website, the request is routed to the nearest CDN server, which then delivers the video stream. This reduces the load on the origin server and ensures that the user receives the content faster.
In the context of cloud computing, CDNs are often used in conjunction with cloud storage services to enhance the delivery of static and dynamic content. For instance, Tencent Cloud's Cloud CDN service leverages its extensive network of edge servers to accelerate content delivery, ensuring that users can access web applications and data quickly and reliably, regardless of their geographic location.