All terms
Glossary
CloudFront
Also: CDN
The AWS delivery network: content is cached at locations close to the user.
The obvious benefit is speed, because the distance shrinks. The second is relief: whatever is answered at the edge never reaches your servers.
The third is often missed: traffic through the delivery network is cheaper than direct egress from the region.
How you notice it
- Users sit far away from the server region.
- Images and scripts are fetched on every request.
- Data transfer out of the region is a visible cost item.
Frequently asked
Can I serve HTML through the CDN as well?
Yes, and for static sites you should. The condition is that the cache is purged on every deploy, otherwise visitors see the old version for days. That is exactly what the purge step in the deploy is for.