The Magical Perks of a CDN

Montu thought for a second. "Okay Boltu, so I set it up. But after spending all this money on a CDN, what do I actually get out of it? Or does it just jack up the bill?"

Boltu took the last sip of his tea. "Get out of it? This is like life insurance for your app. Come on, let me break it down one by one."

• Lower latency (rocket speed): since BiralTube's videos won't come from far-off America anymore but from a server right next to the user's house, videos load in the blink of an eye. People will forget the word 'buffering' even exists.
• Saving bandwidth costs (money in the bank): good news for your wallet. A CDN cuts down the bandwidth you'd otherwise burn sending everything from the main server. Because most users get their data from the edge server, they're not even knocking on the main server's door.
• Handling viral load (Scalability): say a BiralTube video goes viral tomorrow. A million people pile in at once. Without a CDN, your main server would crash. But now those million hits get split across edge servers all over the world. Your main server won't even notice the storm raging outside!
• Security guard (DDoS Protection): a CDN isn't just a delivery guy, it's a bouncer too. Plenty of CDNs come with built-in security. If hackers attack your site (DDoS), the CDN takes the hit on its own shoulders and won't let it reach the main server at all.

Montu, beaming, said, "Boltu, this thing is all-in-one! No more waiting, I'm heading home right now to start setting it up."

Boltu gave a little smile. "Go! But remember, you made the frontend fast, sure. But if the backend database hits a traffic jam, you'll come running right back to me."

Montu, letting that one go in one ear and out the other, took off.