Caching, as it pertains to hosting a website, is the temporary storage of content. This content could be images, files, bits of PHP scripts that are precompiled, HTML pages, results of database queries, and other web objects.
Caching quickens the responsiveness of your website. You’ll also hear this concept referred to as: reducing latency, eliminating redundant processing steps, improving responsiveness, or reducing load times.
The Liquid Web Content Delivery Network (CDN) is comprised of thousands of CDN nodes via the Akamai Intelligent Platform. This platform effectively gives our customers the ability to increase global reach over 2,000 percent further than any previously available option. Below is a complete list of the Liquid Web CDN Nodes:
Continue reading “Liquid Web CDN Nodes”
The Liquid Web CDN improves your website’s load time by taking all of your site’s media (pictures, music, etc.) and distributing it to a worldwide caching network. When a visitor reaches your CDN-enabled websites they will receive the basic elements (text, framework code, etc.) from your server as normal, but all the media will be handled by the CDN’s worldwide network of caching servers (also referred to as “nodes”).
Because media files are almost always much larger than text elements, the CDN takes a lot of the workload from your dedicated server. Please note that the Liquid Web CDN is only for use with media files and does not handle databases or other server-side functions. Database activity and other functions will continue to be handled by your server.
It is also important to note that adding CDN services to your server requires modifications to your website’s code. If you are using a Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc. then these changes can be easily made using the CMS software itself. If your website was custom-built and does not have a CDN option in the CMS interface, you will need to consult your site’s developer for assistance in implementing CDN code changes. Continue reading “What is a CDN? An Overview”