• Amazon CloudFront
  • How it works

Amazon CloudFront

Global network of edge locations to deliver a cached copy of web content to your customers, or simply a CDN (Content Delivery Network).

• Reduce response time using nearest edge location
• Throughput dramatically increased
• Provides an additional layer of security for your architecture
• Supports websocket protocol
• Types of content:
  • Static: images,js, html etc… with high TTL
  • Video: rtmp and http streaming support
  • Dynamic: customizations and non-cachable content
  • User input: http action support including Put/Post
  • Secure: Serve the content securely with SSL (https)
• Geo-restriction features (also known as geoblocking) at country level, or even with finer granularity if using third party geolocation services

How it works

1. Specify an origin server (S3 bucket or any http server)
2. Create a CloudFront distribution (linked to origin servers)
3. CloudFront assigns a domain name to your distribution
4. The distribution’s configuration is sent to its edge locations

How to expire contents:

• TTL: Fixed period set by you, using If-Modified-Since header (if set to 0 the content will still be cached if it hasn’t changed at the origin)
• New name: update is immediate (avoid using same name, as content is refreshed only at first request in every edge)
• Invalidate object: bad solution, needs interact with all edge locations