Definition of content delivery

Content delivery is the method of delivering web-based media over a specific medium, such as the Internet or a television broadcast channel. For any media to be consumed online, it must be delivered from a first server (the source server) to a second server (the cache server), which includes music videos, web pages, television shows, video games, and all other online web-based content.

The role of online content delivery

Online content delivery distributes information to duplicate servers to maintain web-based content, which is called content caching. Content caching reduces loading time, enables efficient delivery, and distributes data processing tasks, and can also prevent denial of service (DoS) attacks.

Key points

Content delivery occurs in three steps: network redirection, URL selection, and delivery.
Content can be delivered as either download or streaming.
Different types of content can be delivered in different ways to create a true omnichannel experience.
Content delivery networks (CDNs) can help reduce loading times, improve content availability and redundancy, enhance web page security, and reduce bandwidth costs.

How Content Delivery Works

The acceleration and proliferation of Internet-based content has increased the importance of a stable content delivery system, including video on demand (VoD), downloadable content, streaming services, and everything else available online. To meet demand, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have increased scalability, quality of service, and network reliability.

Content delivery works in three steps:

• Network Redirection:
  Cache servers are placed at major Internet access points around the world.
  These second-level cache servers then use special routing codes to redirect web page requests to the nearest server.
  These special routing redirection codes include Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) redirection, IP redirection, and Domain Name System (DNS) redirection.
  
• URL Selection:
  The web user then selects a given Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which reroutes the request from the website's origin server and directs it to a second-level cache server that is closer to the user.
  
• Delivery:
  The second-level cache server then determines what content is held in the cache, delivers that content, and then fetches any uncached content from the origin server.