Want a fast free DNS and content distribution network?
There are a lot of different tools being used in our business and they are used for various reasons. Some tools, like accounting software, are used because they are needed, others because they are already there and we can’t do anything about it, like Windows. There are also those being used because they are an example of a best-of-breed service which makes our lives easier. One of these tools is CloudFlare.
CloudFlare describes itself as a web performance and security company which accelerates and protects websites. They occupy a space that has recently seen a lot more activity in known as a Content Distribution Network (CDN).
A CDN is basically a network of servers which are interconnected and share bits of data amongst each other so they can serve it to the end user faster. Think of it like a shipping company with different warehouses, each one strategically located in different parts of the world where they send you the products from locally. When a new product comes out, they ship it out to each of their warehouses and when you order that product , the closest warehouse sends it to you.
CDNs are actually quite common and the companies providing them offer varying degrees of complexity. In Australia, for example, one of our national broadcasters, the ABC, offers streaming of TV shows. This is all delivered through Akamai’s CDN that handles the massive amounts of data. Akamai distributes these data so the ABC can concentrate on making TV shows and news stories. What the ABC does is to just upload the video to Akamai and they handle the rest.
In order to provide a great CDN, they needed to build out an authoritative DNS server network. This means once you point your domain to their name servers, any changes done through their fantastic interface get pushed out to the world as fast as lightning. This is also handy since Cloudflare allows you to host DNS with them even if you don’t it strictly with websites – we host a few experimental IPv6 tunnel DNS entries there, for example, and the DNS is like any other, except that it’s super fast and has a pretty interface. For core services, we still host our own DNS servers but a service like CloudFlare makes a lot of sense as we’re bringing new web sites online and are able to host them without our engineers’ involvement.
For more information on CloudFlare why not check out the CloudFlare Overview?