10Gbps CDN Servers
Build Your Own Content Delivery Network
High-bandwidth servers optimized for content delivery at scale. Build a custom CDN that outperforms commercial services for high-traffic sitesâwith 10Gbps connectivity, massive storage, and the control to optimize for your specific use case.
CDN Servers
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What is a CDN Server?
A CDN (Content Delivery Network) server is optimized for one job: delivering content to users as fast as possible. This means high bandwidth for handling many simultaneous downloads, large storage for caching content, low latency through strategic placement near users, and the reliability to serve millions of requests without downtime.
When you build your own CDN with 10Gbps dedicated servers, you're creating edge nodes that cache your content close to users. Instead of everyone hitting your origin server, requests are served from the nearest edge node. This reduces latency, offloads your origin, and can dramatically cut bandwidth costs compared to commercial CDN services.
đĄ Building your own CDN makes sense at scale. If you're serving less than 10TB/month, commercial CDN services (Cloudflare, Bunny, KeyCDN) are often more cost-effective and simpler. But once you're serving 50TB+ monthly, or need specific features commercial CDNs don't offer, dedicated servers become the economical choice.
Custom CDN vs Commercial CDN Services
Your Own CDN Infrastructure
- âFixed monthly cost regardless of bandwidth
- âFull control over caching rules and headers
- âNo per-request or per-GB charges at scale
- âCustom configurations for specific content types
- âKeep data on your own infrastructure
- âHigher upfront complexity, lower long-term cost
Commercial CDN Service
- â˘Pay-per-use (per GB or per request)
- â˘Preconfigured caching, limited customization
- â˘Cost increases linearly with traffic
- â˘One-size-fits-all approach
- â˘Data passes through third-party infrastructure
- â˘Easy to start, expensive at scale
Why Build Your Own CDN?
Understanding when custom CDN infrastructure makes financial sense
Predictable Costs at Scale
Commercial CDNs charge per GB. At 100TB/month, that's thousands in fees. A 10Gbps unmetered server costs a fixed amount monthly regardless of how much data you push. The math starts favoring dedicated servers around 50TB/month.
Complete Configuration Control
Set your own cache rules, purge instantly, customize headers, and optimize for your specific content. No waiting for CDN support to enable features or dealing with configuration limitations.
Optimized for Your Content
Tune everything for your use case. Video streaming? Optimize buffer sizes and TCP settings. Images? Configure aggressive caching. APIs? Enable edge computing. Commercial CDNs use generic configurations.
Data Stays on Your Infrastructure
For sensitive content or compliance requirements, keeping data on your own servers matters. No third party sees your traffic patterns or user data.
Strategic Geographic Placement
Deploy edge nodes exactly where your users are. Commercial CDNs have fixed POPs; with dedicated servers, you choose locations that matter for your audience.
Deep Origin Integration
Connect directly to your origin infrastructure with private networking. Implement custom authentication, dynamic content handling, or edge processing that commercial CDNs don't support.
Who Builds Custom CDNs?
Common scenarios where dedicated CDN servers make sense
Media & Entertainment Companies
Streaming services, video platforms, and media sites serving terabytes daily. At this scale, the per-GB savings from dedicated servers can fund significant infrastructure improvements.
Game Distribution Platforms
Game updates and downloads are massive. A 50GB game patch to millions of users means petabytes of transfer. Custom CDN infrastructure makes this economically viable.
Software Download Services
Mirror networks, package repositories, and software distribution. Linux distros, app stores, and update services all benefit from dedicated edge infrastructure.
High-Traffic E-commerce
Product images, videos, and static assets for large e-commerce operations. Fast asset delivery directly impacts conversion rates and SEO rankings.
SaaS & Web Applications
Static assets, JavaScript bundles, and API caching for web applications. Reduce origin load and improve global performance with edge caching.
IPTV & OTT Providers
Live and on-demand video delivery requires massive bandwidth. Custom CDN infrastructure provides the throughput and control that IPTV operations demand.
How to Build Your CDN
Key decisions when planning CDN infrastructure
Calculate Bandwidth Requirements
Estimate peak concurrent users Ă average bitrate. A 10Gbps server can theoretically serve 1,000 users at 10Mbps each, or 200 users at 50Mbps for HD video. Plan for peaks, not averages.
Plan Storage Capacity
How much content needs to be cached? Video libraries need terabytes; image CDNs might need less. Consider using NVMe for hot content and HDD arrays for cold storage.
Choose Strategic Locations
Place edge nodes near your users. Netherlands (AMS-IX) covers Europe well. For global reach, add nodes in North America and Asia. Each location reduces latency for nearby users.
Select CDN Software
Nginx is the most common choiceâflexible, fast, and well-documented. Varnish excels at caching. Apache Traffic Server handles massive scale. Consider your team's expertise.
Plan for Redundancy
What happens when a node fails? Use DNS-based load balancing (GeoDNS) or anycast for automatic failover. Never rely on a single edge node for critical content.
Origin Shield Strategy
Use a 'shield' layer between edge nodes and your origin to consolidate cache misses. This protects your origin from thundering herd problems during cache expiration.
CDN Server Specifications
What to expect from CDN-optimized servers
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a CDN server?
A CDN server is an edge node optimized for caching and delivering content. Key requirements are high bandwidth (10Gbps for serving many users), large storage (for caching content), low latency (through strategic placement), and high reliability. When you build your own CDN, you deploy these servers in locations near your users.
When does building your own CDN make sense?
Custom CDN infrastructure typically becomes cost-effective around 50-100TB monthly transfer. Below that, commercial CDNs (Cloudflare, Bunny, KeyCDN) are usually simpler and cheaper. Above that, the fixed cost of dedicated servers beats per-GB pricing. Also consider custom CDN if you need specific features, compliance requirements, or complete control.
What software should I use for my CDN?
Nginx is the most popular choiceâit's fast, flexible, and well-documented for CDN use. Varnish is excellent for pure HTTP caching with advanced features. Apache Traffic Server handles massive scale and is used by major CDNs. For video, consider specialized options like Nginx-RTMP or dedicated streaming servers.
How many edge nodes do I need?
Start with nodes in your primary user regions. One node in Netherlands covers most of Europe. Add North America and Asia as needed. For redundancy, have at least two nodes per region. You can start small and add nodes as traffic growsâthat's the advantage of building your own.
How do I route users to the nearest edge node?
GeoDNS is the simplest approachâDNS resolves to different IPs based on user location. Services like NS1, Route53, or Cloudflare DNS offer this. For more precision, anycast routing sends users to the topologically nearest node, but requires BGP expertise to implement.
What about cache invalidation?
This is famously hard. Common approaches: versioned URLs (change the URL when content changes), purge APIs (tell nodes to delete specific content), or short TTLs for frequently changing content. With your own CDN, you control the purge mechanism and can make it as fast as you need.
How much storage do I need for a CDN node?
Depends on your content library and caching strategy. For a hot cache that holds your most-accessed content, 1-2TB NVMe might suffice. For a full mirror or video library, you might need 10TB+ HDD arrays. Monitor cache hit ratios and adjustâyou want 90%+ hit rate.
Can I use CDN servers for video streaming?
Yes, CDN servers are ideal for video delivery. For HLS/DASH streaming, Nginx handles segment delivery well. For live streaming, you might need RTMP ingest capabilities. At 10Gbps, a single server can serve hundreds of concurrent HD streams, depending on bitrate.
What's the difference between 10Gbps and 1Gbps for CDN?
A 1Gbps server maxes out at ~125MB/s throughput. For a CDN serving many users, this limits you to about 100 concurrent HD video streams or 1000 concurrent image downloads. 10Gbps gives you 10x the capacity, which matters during traffic spikes and for serving video content.
How do I protect my CDN from DDoS attacks?
Choose servers with built-in DDoS protectionâmost quality providers include this. For additional protection, implement rate limiting in Nginx, use fail2ban for abusive IPs, and consider an upstream DDoS mitigation service for volumetric attacks. CDN architecture naturally distributes attack surface.
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