Optimize content delivery with Azure CDN

A number of projects that I do are directly related to media and cloud technologies. Therefore, I try to keep track of all the news that occurs in these two areas. I am particularly interested in what happens at the junction of these two technologies. Not so long ago, in Microsoft Azure, it was possible to select the scenario for the operation of CDN services. In this article, which is my free translation of the publication Manling Zhang (Senior Program Manager, Azure CDN & Azure Media Services), it will be told about the support of which scenarios are implemented to date.

When delivering content to a wide audience, it is imperative to ensure that this process is optimal. A new feature introduced in Azure CDN is designed to speed up and optimize performance based on scenarios that can be used to deliver content. These scripts may include the delivery of “shared content” of a website (css files, js files, images, fonts), streaming media, downloading large files, etc. The optimization option will be applied depending on the scenario specified in the “optimized for” parameter when creating the CDN endpoint.

The optimization that Azure CDN uses includes caching, splitting into objects, a re-query policy after a crash, depending on the specific scenario. Consider two of the possible scenarios.

Multimedia streaming

Multimedia streaming is time sensitive, as packets arriving late for a client can cause quality degradation and frequent buffering. New features allow you to reduce the delay in the delivery of multimedia content.
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Download large files

When uploading large files, the ability to split the downloaded file into parts is crucial. The file is requested in small chunks from the beginning to ensure a smooth download.

We apply these improvements based on experience with many clients, and continue to add additional parameters to improve the performance of content delivery. You can select the optimization option for the CDN endpoint for one of the following scenarios:

• Delivery of "shared" web content
• Multimedia streaming
• Video Stream on Demand
• Download large files

When creating a new CDN endpoint, simply select from the drop-down list the script that best suits your requirements.


Optimization methods may vary between different CDN providers and supported optimization technologies depending on their use; therefore, the available options for optimization scenarios may depend on which CDN provider you have chosen.

Currently:

• Akamai's Azure CDN supports such options as: delivering “shared” web content, streaming media, streaming video on demand, downloading large files.
• Verizon’s Azure CDN only supports delivery of “shared” web content.

We strongly recommend that you check CDN performance from various vendors to select the best option for you.