What is a Content Delivery Network (CDN)?
My Market Toolkit supports a world class Content Delivery Network (CDN) designed to distribute files to end users with low latency and high data transfer speeds.
My Market Toolkit delivers both streaming and static files using a global network of hosting centers. Requests to download files are automatically routed to the nearest hosting center, which speeds up the time it takes to receive the file since it has to travel a shorter distance.
Hosting centers are located in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The United States centers are located in Los Angeles CA, Palo Alto CA, Miami FL, St. Louis MO, Newark NJ, New York NY, Dallas/Fort Worth TX, Ashburn VA, and Seattle WA. The European centers are in Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, and London, and the Asian centers are located in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore.
How do I use the Content Delivery Network?
It's easy. When you upload a file to My Market Toolkit, you can link to it using one of two domains: http://cdn.mymarkettoolkit.com or http://useast.mymarkettoolkit.com. If you choose the CDN version, it will use the content delivery network automatically. The rest of the file path remains the same.
When would I want to use useast.mymarkettookit.com instead of cdn.mymarkettoolkit.com?
If you use http://useast.mymarkettoolkit.com, the file is downloaded directly from the main hosting center in Ashburn, Virginia. It is not cached, so you get the most recent version of the file. When you access the file via the CDN, it is cached for 24 hours. If the file is changed within those 24 hours, the newer version will not be accessed.
When a file is requested from the CDN, the first thing the system does is determine which location is closest. Then it checks to see if there is a copy of the file at that location that has been retrieved from Ashburn within the last 24 hours. If there is, the file is delivered. If not, the file is retrieved from Ashburn and then delivered to the end user.
This causes two very good reasons to use useast instead of cdn.
First, if the file has a high probability to change within the next 24 hours such as an image being used on a website or email broadcast under development, then it's better to use useast. This way, you avoid the caching problem and will see the latest file every time. In the case of an email broadcast, its extra important to use useast.mymarkettoolkit.com just in case you realize there is an error with an image after the broadcast has been sent.
Second, if the file is not accessed very often, it's better to use useast. This is because the file can travel directly from the source to the person requesting the file instead of sending it to the edge location and then to the end user. Since the cache expires every 24 hours and there are 16 edge hosting centers, if the file is not accessed more than 10-15 times per day, you won't benefit much from the content delivery network.
When is it better to use cdn.mymarkettoolkit.com vs. useast.mymarkettoolkit.com?
The simple answer is any time it's not better to use useast based on the previous section. Specific answers include graphics used in a website's template or CSS files, the home page, and any other page that gets 10-15 or more hits per day. It also includes any files that need to be downloaded more than 10-15 times per day.
My Market Toolkit's CSS and JS KMods in the CMS always use the CDN. It gets around the caching problem by adding a timestamp to the end of the file's name. Since it's a new file name every time the file is updated, the edge location will retrieve it again, and since these files are accessed on every page view, it will have enough demand to warrant using the CDN.