Content delivery network interconnection
Ok, so imagine you have a lot of toys at home, but your friends want to play with them too. Now, if your friends all came over to your house to play with the toys, it might get really crowded and chaotic - there wouldn't be enough space for everyone to play comfortably, and people might trip over each other or accidentally break things.
Instead, imagine if you had a big backyard with lots of different areas for playing, and your friends could show up whenever they wanted, and know exactly which part of the backyard to go to in order to find the toy they wanted to play with. That way, everyone gets to play with the toys they like, and nobody gets in anyone else's way.
That's kind of like what a content delivery network (CDN) does. There are lots of different websites with lots of different things to look at and download - videos, pictures, music, and so on. If everyone went directly to those websites to look at or download things, it could get really slow and crowded, especially if lots of people are trying to access the same thing at the same time.
So, instead of everyone going directly to the website to get what they want, the website puts all its stuff (its "toys", if you will) onto a bunch of servers that are located all over the world. Those servers are part of a big network called a CDN. When you want to look at or download something from the website, your computer talks to the CDN instead of the website directly.
The CDN looks at where you are and decides which one of its servers is closest to you. It sends you to that server - kind of like if your friend told you to go play with the toy in the backyard that's closest to where you're standing. That way, you get what you want faster, because you're not waiting for things to travel all the way across the internet, and the website doesn't get bogged down by too many people trying to access it all at once.
But, just like your backyard might be connected to other people's backyards by a gate or a fence, there might be different CDNs that need to work together to make things run smoothly. Sometimes, a CDN might decide that its servers aren't the best ones for you to go to - maybe you're really far away from all of them, or maybe they're all really busy at the moment. In that case, the CDN will tell your computer to go talk to a different CDN instead.
The CDNs talk to each other like grown-ups talk to each other on the phone or on the computer, so they can agree on which one should handle your request. And just like how you and your friends might need to share toys sometimes, the CDNs might need to work together to share information and make sure everything gets to you as quickly as possible.
So basically, a CDN is like a big, organized backyard with lots of different areas for playing, and CDN interconnection is like a group of friends with big backyards, who sometimes need to work together to make sure everyone gets to play with the toys they want.
Instead, imagine if you had a big backyard with lots of different areas for playing, and your friends could show up whenever they wanted, and know exactly which part of the backyard to go to in order to find the toy they wanted to play with. That way, everyone gets to play with the toys they like, and nobody gets in anyone else's way.
That's kind of like what a content delivery network (CDN) does. There are lots of different websites with lots of different things to look at and download - videos, pictures, music, and so on. If everyone went directly to those websites to look at or download things, it could get really slow and crowded, especially if lots of people are trying to access the same thing at the same time.
So, instead of everyone going directly to the website to get what they want, the website puts all its stuff (its "toys", if you will) onto a bunch of servers that are located all over the world. Those servers are part of a big network called a CDN. When you want to look at or download something from the website, your computer talks to the CDN instead of the website directly.
The CDN looks at where you are and decides which one of its servers is closest to you. It sends you to that server - kind of like if your friend told you to go play with the toy in the backyard that's closest to where you're standing. That way, you get what you want faster, because you're not waiting for things to travel all the way across the internet, and the website doesn't get bogged down by too many people trying to access it all at once.
But, just like your backyard might be connected to other people's backyards by a gate or a fence, there might be different CDNs that need to work together to make things run smoothly. Sometimes, a CDN might decide that its servers aren't the best ones for you to go to - maybe you're really far away from all of them, or maybe they're all really busy at the moment. In that case, the CDN will tell your computer to go talk to a different CDN instead.
The CDNs talk to each other like grown-ups talk to each other on the phone or on the computer, so they can agree on which one should handle your request. And just like how you and your friends might need to share toys sometimes, the CDNs might need to work together to share information and make sure everything gets to you as quickly as possible.
So basically, a CDN is like a big, organized backyard with lots of different areas for playing, and CDN interconnection is like a group of friends with big backyards, who sometimes need to work together to make sure everyone gets to play with the toys they want.
Related topics others have asked about: