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Server Speed vs cdn..

by tyronenabler
13 replies
Hello guys I am using the amazon cloudfront Cdn and it seems to actually slow my site down in Europe...The server loads the whole site in <150MS direct while cdn needs 300 MS-900MS with even spikes sometimes everyday going to 1+ sec.... is amazon cloudfront cdn shit?? if so what cdn is good to use? I am an affiliate marketer(performance marketer)... so my infrastructure and the speed of it is very important to be because of the heavy correlation between conversion rate + Loading speed... I know it reduces the load on my server but I want speed also!
#cdn #server #speed
  • Profile picture of the author robomedia
    I don't have much experience with amazon cdn, but some general questions might help to determine the problem .

    1. Are you comparing download of same files when you say whole site is <150ms and cdn is 900ms ?
    Or are those different files . i.e. your site can weight 10kb and your files in cdn 10mb . We need to compare apples with apples.

    2. How big is your traffic in terms requests per second ?
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    • Profile picture of the author tyronenabler
      Originally Posted by robomedia View Post

      I don't have much experience with amazon cdn, but some general questions might help to determine the problem .

      1. Are you comparing download of same files when you say whole site is <150ms and cdn is 900ms ?
      Or are those different files . i.e. your site can weight 10kb and your files in cdn 10mb . We need to compare apples with apples.

      2. How big is your traffic in terms requests per second ?
      1. I am comparing the same files loading speed on the same page on the site...
      So whole page loads <150 MS using my server directly
      I get 300ms-2.5sec on loading speed using the amazon cdn when delivering the same page...2.5sec is something new Ive seen today...

      2. I ain't running traffic yet trying to optimize my infrastructure before I start buying traffic... Since I want to have a perfect infrastructure.... So I won't have to many people leaving because slow loading speeds.... to get the maximum ROI on the traffic I buy...
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      • Profile picture of the author rts2271
        CDN's are not a magic bullet. They bring content closer to what is known as your users POP or point of presence, aka where they jump on the internet. Services like akmai and bigger CDN's utilize strategically placed appliances in different cities utilizing robust peering relationships to capture as much local traffic as possible.
        So let's say I have a web server in Ireland. My CDN covers US, Canada. Anyone accessing the site from the US or Canada will see faster content delivery based on time on wire. However a user in Ireland being forced to use the US CDN's will see a slowdown.
        Usage of a CDN is critical. For US companies servicing a US market it's insanely easy to set up.
        For anything outside of that use case, it gets trickier. Make sure your CDN supports your location first if that's what your testing, but make ABSOLUTELY sure your CDN can handle your target markets or else defaults back to your server.
        Signature

        Ralph Smith
        Mercenary development and deployment.

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        • Profile picture of the author tyronenabler
          I know how they work and what they do... and that they aren't magic bullets but.... I would think amazon would be able to outperform my server when it comes to delivering content..... consistantly.... if it doesn't outperform my server its no problem... but.... then at least I am depending on it to be reliable when it comes to its performance ... a download time varying between 300-2.5 sec isn't reliable to me! when my server does 150~ consistently...
          Btw its cloudfront! it has global coverage thats how they market it!! if its able to do 300 MS full page loadng time at times it is handling it! it just isn't reliable AT ALL... How am I supposed to rely on it in other places of the world when I can't even rely on it when I test this one location....Other locations are random also btw! anyone know a better cdn? cloudfront seems like a joke

          The only place where the cdn wins is Australia.... and Asia....
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          • Profile picture of the author rts2271
            I really like softlayers CDN. Akmai is the gold standard.Amazon's CDN is trailer trash. It gets worse from now until Dec 27th.

            Check out softlayers CDN. It's ridiculously easy to set up and always served us well serving out of Virginia to Euro and Asian clients.

            Akmai is really really nice but it is really really pricey, Softlayer is actually a bit more cost effective then Amazon as well.
            Signature

            Ralph Smith
            Mercenary development and deployment.

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  • Profile picture of the author rts2271
    BTW whats your structure, aka where are you hosting your server and who are you serving?
    Signature

    Ralph Smith
    Mercenary development and deployment.

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    • Profile picture of the author tyronenabler
      I am hosting with linode at London UK/England..
      I am planning to serve the EU and... Asia.. but the performance of cloudfront is even worse in asia... although my server performance isn't top notch either... but I am depending on a cdn for asia.. and if the performance is any good I want to depend on it for EU also just to take the load of the server
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  • Profile picture of the author rts2271
    Try a test with Softlayer. You may be better served with a second VPS server to serve content instead of a CDN.
    Also remember the other half of the CDN equation is about minimizing local server load. Sometimes the tradeoff in speed is well worth the durability of purpose. You could also just put the nasty big slow files on the cdn.
    Signature

    Ralph Smith
    Mercenary development and deployment.

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  • Profile picture of the author Dario2
    we are using MaxCDN and it's great, no delay or anyhing, saves us bandwidh, depends on how big image is
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    • Profile picture of the author tyronenabler
      maxcdn requires me to contact to sales team for full page caching I dunno how much they will charge but I ain't expecting anything pretty
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      • Profile picture of the author forexmouse
        Hi,
        I work as sysadmin.
        I did not like the use of the CDN: something they are slow down you site without any reason. If you connect directly, the site is fast.
        If you buy a shared hosting plan that is not overcommitted, you will probably get best performance without a CDN, especially if you site has 100-200 daily visitors.
        Sometimes CDNs block vistitors that use the same IP address assigned by the ISP to thousend of users only because one of this is sening spam.
        In this case, you are leaving out a potential buyer.
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