Amazon CloudFront

In this article, we will explore the impact of Amazon CloudFront in the current context. Amazon CloudFront has been the subject of debate and analysis for a long time, and its relevance is still valid in the current scenario. Over the years, Amazon CloudFront has played a crucial role in various aspects, from society to economics, culture and politics. With this article, we aim to address the different facets of Amazon CloudFront, examining its influence and evolution over time. From its origins to its current situation, we will analyze how Amazon CloudFront has shaped and continues to shape our world locally, nationally and internationally.

Amazon CloudFront
Type of site
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
OwnerAmazon
URLaws.amazon.com/cloudfront Edit this at Wikidata
IPv6 supportYes
RegistrationRequired
LaunchedNovember 18, 2008 (2008-11-18)

Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) operated by Amazon Web Services. The content delivery network was created to provide a globally-distributed network of proxy servers to cache content, such as web videos or other bulky media, more locally to consumers, to improve access speed for downloading the content.

CloudFront has servers located in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Australia, South America, Africa, and several major cities in the United States. In November 2022, the service operated from 400 edge locations on six continents.[1]

CloudFront operates on a pay-as-you-go basis.

CloudFront competes with larger CDNs, such as Akamai, Azion, Cloudflare, and Edgio (previously known as Limelight Networks). Upon launch, Larry Dignan of ZDNet News stated that CloudFront could cause price and margin reductions for competing CDNs.[2]

Timeline

  • November 18, 2008 – Beta launch of CloudFront
  • May 7, 2009 – Adds access logging capability
  • November 11, 2009 – Adds support for private content
  • December 15, 2009 – Announced Amazon CloudFront Streaming
  • March 28, 2010 – Amazon launches edge locations in Singapore and adds private content for streaming
  • May, 2014, Amazon CloudFront is included in the Free Tier usage[3]

Amazon CloudFront edge locations

In October 2018, Amazon CloudFront consisted of 138 access points (127 edge locations and 11 regional edge caches) in 63 cities across 29 countries.[4]

  • North America
    • Edge locations: Ashburn, VA (3); Atlanta, GA (3); Boston, MA; Chicago, IL (2); Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (5); Denver, CO (2); Hayward, CA; Jacksonville, FL; Los Angeles, CA (4); Miami, FL (3); Minneapolis, MN; Montreal, QC; New York, NY (3); Newark, NJ (3); Palo Alto, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; San Jose, CA (2); Seattle, WA (3); South Bend, IN; St. Louis, MO; Toronto, ON
    • Regional Edge caches: Virginia; Ohio; Oregon
  • Europe
    • Edge locations: Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2); Berlin, Germany; Frankfurt, Germany (8); Munich, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; Dublin, Ireland; Helsinki, Finland; London, England (7); Madrid, Spain (2); Manchester, England; Marseille, France; Milan, Italy; Oslo, Norway; Palermo, Italy; Paris, France (4); Prague, Czech Republic; Stockholm, Sweden (3); Vienna, Austria; Warsaw, Poland; Zurich, Switzerland
    • Regional Edge caches: Frankfurt, Germany; London, England
  • Asia
    • Edge locations: Bangalore, India; Chennai, India (3); Bangkok, Thailand (2); Hong Kong, China (3); Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Mumbai, India (2); Manila, Philippines; New Delhi, India (2); Osaka, Japan; Seoul, South Korea (4); Singapore (3); Taipei, Taiwan(3); Tokyo, Japan (9)
    • Regional Edge caches: Mumbai, India; Singapore; Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo, Japan
  • Australia
    • Edge locations: Melbourne; Perth; Sydney
    • Regional Edge caches: Sydney
  • South America
    • Edge locations: São Paulo, Brazil (2); Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2)
    • Regional Edge caches: São Paulo, Brazil
  • Middle East
    • Edge location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Fujairah, United Arab Emirates; Tel Aviv, Israel
  • Africa
    • Edge locations: Nairobi, Kenya; Johannesburg, South Africa; Cape Town, South Africa

Logs

CloudFront allows users to enable or disable logging. If enabled, the logs are stored on Amazon S3 buckets which can then be analyzed. These logs contain information like:

  • Date / time
  • Edge location
  • Protocol used etc.

These logs can be analyzed by using third-party tools such as S3Stat, Cloudlytics, Qloudstat, or AWStats.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Amazon CloudFront Product Details". Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved November 20, 2022. To deliver content to end users with lower latency, Amazon CloudFront uses a global network of 410+ Points of Presence (400+ Edge locations and 13 regional mid-tier caches) in 90+ cities across 48 countries.
  2. ^ Larry Dignan (November 18, 2008). "Amazon launches CloudFront; Content delivery network margins go kaboom". Between the Lines. ZDNet. Archived from the original on 2014-10-22. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  3. ^ "AWS Free Usage Tier Now Includes Amazon CloudFront". Archived from the original on 2016-06-17. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
  4. ^ "Key Features of a Content Delivery Network| Performance, Security | Amazon CloudFront". October 18, 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-10-18.