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Previous episode Caching: why the millionth visitor can be served faster than the first

What happens when a website goes viral: how a site keeps up with millions of visitors

CDNs: how most requests to a website never reach its servers

The servers of a website are in one city. A visitor on the other side of the world waits a long time for every answer. Big websites answer most requests without using their own servers at all.

  1. 1 Your servers sit in one building in Europe. A player in Sydney sends every request around half the world, then waits for each answer to come all the way back.your serversSydney

    Your servers sit in one building in Europe. A player in Sydney sends every request around half the world, then waits for each answer to come all the way back.

  2. 2 And one visit is not one request. The page, its style, its script and its pictures each need a request of their own, and these files are the same for every player. Two million players ask for them all, and every request lands on your servers.pagestylescriptpictures

    And one visit is not one request. The page, its style, its script and its pictures each need a request of their own, and these files are the same for every player. Two million players ask for them all, and every request lands on your servers.

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