What Is CDN (Content Delivery Network)?

Why It Matters

CDNs solve the speed-of-light problem. A server in Virginia can’t respond quickly to a user in Tokyo — the physical distance creates latency. CDNs put copies of content (or redirect logic) on servers worldwide, so every user connects to a nearby server.

How CDNs Work

Without CDN:
Tokyo User ──────────── Virginia Server (200ms latency)

With CDN/Edge Network:
Tokyo User ── Tokyo Edge (5ms) ── response
London User ── London Edge (5ms) ── response
São Paulo User ── São Paulo Edge (5ms) ── response

CDN edge servers resolve the visitor’s IP address and route to the nearest point of presence. At each edge, a reverse proxy handles the request — for forwarding, this means issuing the redirect response directly from the edge.

CDNs and Domain Forwarding

For static websites, CDNs cache HTML, CSS, images. For domain forwarding, the equivalent is an edge network that handles redirects at the nearest point of presence:

Provider	Infrastructure	Redirect Speed
GoDaddy forwarding	Single region	Variable
Cloudflare redirects	Global CDN edge	Fast
Netlify redirects	CDN edge	Fast
Domain Forward	Global edge network	<5ms

Edge Network Benefits for Redirects

• Lower latency: Visitor connects to nearest server
• Higher uptime: If one edge goes down, others take over
• SSL termination: TLS handshake happens at the edge, not a distant origin
• Scalability: Handles traffic spikes without degradation