AWS CloudFront and Global Accelerator are two powerful AWS services designed to enhance content delivery, reduce latency, and improve global application performance. Let’s dive into their features and use cases!
🌍 What is AWS CloudFront?
CloudFront is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that improves application performance by caching content at AWS edge locations worldwide.
✅ Why Use CloudFront?
- Faster content delivery: Reduces latency by serving cached content.
- DDoS Protection: Integrated with AWS Shield, AWS Firewall, and more.
- Supports various origins: Works with ALB, EC2, S3, and custom HTTP backends.
- Geo-restriction support: Restrict or allow access based on geographic location.
🔹 CloudFront Origins
- S3 Bucket: Distribute and cache files securely. Supports Origin Access Control (OAC), replacing the older Origin Access Identity (OAI).
- Custom HTTP Origin: Can use ALB, EC2, S3, or any HTTP backend.
📌 CloudFront vs. S3 Cross-Region Replication
- CloudFront: Uses a global edge network with cached files based on TTL. Best for static content.
- S3 Cross-Region Replication: Must be set up for each region, updates in real time, and is best for dynamic content.
💰 Cost Optimization
- Data-out cost varies based on edge location.
- Reduce edge locations to lower costs.
- Three pricing classes:
- Price Class All: Best performance (all regions).
- Price Class 200: Most regions, excluding the most expensive ones.
- Price Class 100: Only the least expensive regions.
🔄 Cache Invalidation
- CloudFront refreshes content only after TTL expires.
- Force refresh using CloudFront Invalidation for specific paths (
/images/*) or all files (``).
🔐 Securing Private Content with CloudFront
Many companies restrict access to paid content, confidential data, or media streams.
To securely serve private content with CloudFront:
- Require users to access content using signed URLs or signed cookies.
⚡ What is AWS Global Accelerator?
Global Accelerator improves global application performance and availability by routing traffic through AWS’s internal network instead of the public internet.
✅ Why Use Global Accelerator?
- Lower Latency: Uses AWS’s global network instead of the public internet.
- Anycast IPs: Two static IPs route traffic directly to AWS edge locations.
- Automatic Failover: Redirects traffic to a healthy endpoint within seconds.
- Supports TCP & UDP: Ideal for gaming, IoT, and VoIP applications.
🌍 CloudFront vs. Global Accelerator
- CloudFront: Optimized for both static (images, videos) and dynamic (APIs, websites) content.
- Global Accelerator: Best for TCP/UDP applications (gaming, VoIP, IoT). Proxies packets at edge locations for non-HTTP workloads.
🏆 TL;DR:
- CloudFront is a CDN for caching and accelerating content delivery.
- Global Accelerator optimizes network performance for non-HTTP use cases.
- CloudFront caches static & dynamic content, while Global Accelerator routes network traffic efficiently.
- Security: CloudFront supports signed URLs and signed cookies for private content.
- Failover: Global Accelerator automatically redirects traffic to healthy endpoints.
By leveraging AWS CloudFront and Global Accelerator, businesses can achieve faster, more secure, and globally optimized applications. 🚀