Detailed rule set containing instructions to the CDN cache servers to know how to treat content stored on its server. This can include instructions on where to retrieve content, how to long to store cached content, rule sets around HTTP headers or custom logic to apply to served content.
Canonical Name Record or Alias Record. A type of resource record in the Domain Name System (DNS) that specifies that one domain name is an alias of another canonical domain name. For example, CNAMEs are often used by CDN customers to repoint domain names they own to CDN domain names
Content Delivery Network is a data network optimized for the delivery of content, e.g. video, at a large scale. Comprised of both hardware and software components.
A server that provides Domain Name Service (DNS) resolution. Primarily for mapping human-significant names to IP addresses. There are some other data/functions enabled by DNS as well.
A server used for temporary storage of content in multiple locations close to the viewer clients.
Extension mechanisms for DNS (EDNS). Defined in RFC 6981. Permits implement RFC 7871 (Client subnet in DNS Queries) helping DNS resolvers to know the network that originated the DNS query to improve server selection in DNS based request routing.
The component of the distribution network that happens between the Internet Service Provider and the viewer’s playback device. It is the final stretch of a network that connects to the end user.
Hardware and/or software which functions to distribute network traffic among a pool of servers, either locally or globally scoped, according to different policies which could be for example, the location or the load of a server.
Load balancing is, as the name suggests, generally instituted to balance load among a set of resources. It is a specific case of load sharing. In the CDN space this might mean balancing load within a single CDN or it might relate to balancing load across multiple CDNs.
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