Complete CDN Acceleration Configuration Guide

What is CDN

CDN (Content Delivery Network) is an intelligent virtual network built on existing network infrastructure. It uses edge servers deployed globally, with load balancing, content distribution, and scheduling modules to allow users to get content from nearby locations.

Why You Need CDN

Main Advantages

1. Faster access - Users access from nearby, reducing latency
2. Lower load - Reduce origin server pressure
3. Better experience - Faster loading speeds, better user experience
4. Cost savings - Reduce bandwidth costs
5. Higher reliability - Distributed architecture improves availability

Suitable Scenarios

• Website acceleration
• Download distribution
• Video on demand
• Live streaming
• API acceleration

Mainstream CDN Service Comparison

Feature	Alibaba Cloud CDN	Tencent Cloud CDN	Cloudflare
Node Count	2800+	2800+	300+
China Nodes	✅	✅	❌
Free Tier	❌	❌	✅
HTTPS	✅	✅	✅

Alibaba Cloud CDN Configuration

1. Add Domain

1. Click “Add Domain”
2. Enter acceleration domain (e.g., cdn.example.com)
3. Select business type
4. Enter origin information

2. Configure Origin

Origin Types:

• IP origin - Direct IP address
• Domain origin - Origin domain name
• OSS origin - Select OSS bucket

3. Configure Cache Policy

// Cache configuration
{
  "directory": "/",
  "ttl": 3600,  // 1 hour
  "weight": 1
}

// Different cache times for different paths
{
  "directory": "/static/images/",
  "ttl": 86400,  // 24 hours
}

4. Configure HTTPS

1. Upload certificate or use free certificate
2. Enable HTTP/2
3. Configure forced HTTPS redirect

Tencent Cloud CDN Configuration

Basic Configuration

Similar to Alibaba Cloud CDN:

1. Add acceleration domain
2. Configure origin information
3. Configure cache rules
4. Enable HTTPS

Advanced Configuration

Access Control:

// Referer anti-hotlinking
{
  "referer": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "white_list",
    "list": ["example.com", "*.example.com"]
  }
}

Cloudflare Configuration

1. Add Site

1. Register Cloudflare account
2. Add your website
3. Select free plan

2. Modify DNS

Change domain DNS servers to Cloudflare’s DNS servers.

3. Configure Cache

Page Rules:

*example.com/images/*
- Cache level: Standard
- Edge cache expire time: 1 day

*example.com/api/*
- Cache level: Bypass
- Disable cache

4. Optimization Settings

Speed Optimization:

• Auto Minify - Auto compress CSS/JS
• Brotli compression
• HTTP/2
• HTTP/3 (QUIC)

Performance Optimization Recommendations

1. Cache Strategy

Static resources:

• Images, CSS, JS: Long cache (1 year)
• HTML files: Short cache or no cache
• API responses: No cache

Cache configuration example:

location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js)$ {
  expires 1y;
  add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
}

2. File Optimization

Image optimization:

• Use WebP format
• Responsive images
• Lazy loading
• Image compression

CSS/JS optimization:

• Minify code
• Combine files
• Lazy loading
• Async loading

Best Practices Summary

1. Configure cache reasonably - Long cache for static resources, no cache for dynamic content
2. Enable HTTPS - Improve security, enable HTTP/2
3. Monitor performance - Regularly review monitoring data, optimize configuration
4. Control costs - Choose appropriate billing method, optimize traffic usage
5. Multi-level cache - Browser cache + CDN cache + origin cache

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Related Reading:

• Object Storage Comparison
• Cloud Server Performance Optimization