| Do I need a CDN if I have Cloud Computing? | | | | CDN. |
| Over last year or so, the term Cloud Computing has | | | | You will probably find that integrating a CDN is easier |
| been making headlines. There are several new | | | | and less time consuming than bringing up new servers |
| entrants into the Cloud Computing industry. The idea | | | | and maintaining them. In some cases with a CDN it |
| is simple, you have all these computers or servers | | | | may be as simple as pointing a CNAME to the CDN or |
| directly connected to the cloud (The Internet) and | | | | just uploading your content to them. |
| you have massive computing power at your | | | | Pricing |
| fingertips. Companies like Rackspace, GoGrid, | | | | Certainly, the pricing of cloud-computing is more |
| Amazon, and AT&T are all offering one form of | | | | attractive than a CDN. But you will need to figure out |
| Cloud Computing or another. | | | | what your needs are and find the right combinations |
| The services available from these companies range | | | | of services. |
| from simple "Cloud Storage", to fully scalable virtual | | | | Mosso by Rackspace |
| servers in the cloud. | | | | - $100/month |
| When to use Cloud Computing | | | | - 50 GB of storage space |
| The great thing about these services is the instant | | | | - 500 GB of monthly bandwidth |
| setup and "unlimited scalability". When you want a | | | | - 10,000 compute cycles. Compute cycles measure |
| new website, with a few clicks of a mouse you bring | | | | how much processing time your applications require |
| up a new Linux or Windows box. They even make it | | | | on the Mosso cloud. 10,000 compute cycles are |
| easy for you by pre-installing services like SQL, Mail, | | | | roughly equivalent to the monthly capacity of a |
| and in some cases applications like Wowza or | | | | server with a 2.8 GHz modern processor. per month |
| Windows Media streaming server. | | | | - Prices go up from there. |
| The setup process is usually wizard driven and they | | | | GoGrid: |
| take the guesswork out of setting up server | | | | - $.19/hour of RAM (add more RAM, pay more) $136 |
| software and services. | | | | month per 1GB of RAM plus |
| A couple of cloud-computing providers even partner | | | | - $.50/GB of transfer outbound |
| with Content Delivery Networks (CDN) to offer | | | | - 10GB of storage included $.15/GB thereafter |
| Cloud Storage. Essentially you put your files in the | | | | - Free Load Balancing with F5 load balancers |
| cloud storage and they are on a CDN. | | | | Amazon EC2: |
| Sounds good, why do I even consider a CDN? | | | | - $.10/hour up to $.80/hour for "On Demand" |
| All of these services are on virtualized boxes and | | | | - $325 setup up to $2600 setup + $.03/hour up to |
| shared resources. They are not dedicated. The | | | | $.24/hour for a "Reserved" server |
| services are not fully managed either. You would be | | | | - $.10/GB on inbound traffic |
| responsible for software updates, patches, licenses, | | | | - $.10 to $.17/GB for outbound traffic |
| etc; although you really shouldn't ever be concerned | | | | - Storage is extra through the S3 service |
| about hardware or bandwidth. The idea behind | | | | - Other services are extra |
| cloud-computing is that you just pay more and they | | | | AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service: |
| dedicate more resources to your servers. | | | | - Pricing not disclosed |
| If you have an existing data center or web servers, | | | | CDN Pricing |
| you may hesitate moving your web sites or web | | | | Pricing for CDN service will vary greatly depending on |
| servers to a cloud-computing Provider. This may | | | | what you want and where you get if from. With the |
| mean abandoning hardware and software you've | | | | Tier 1 CDNs expect a minimum commitment per |
| already invested in. You may consider bringing up | | | | month and to sign a 1-year contract. With a Tier 2 |
| new servers in a cloud environment to reduce costs | | | | CDN like Level3, CDNetwork, Edgecast, etc, you may |
| or gain flexibility. | | | | get a month-to-month contract and lower prices, but |
| If you have a lot of web sites it may make sense to | | | | you may not get the same service either. |
| consider a cloud provider versus a normal web host | | | | Pricing for CDNs will be anywhere from $.05/GB to |
| provider. You will have more control over your | | | | $1.00 or more per GB depending on what you |
| domains and depending on your provider you may be | | | | commit to. Keep in mind only the largest contracts in |
| able to scale easier. Plus you would have full root | | | | the hundreds of TBs to Petabytes will get down to |
| access to the web servers to configure them | | | | the $.05/GB range. When you add on ancillary |
| however you want. It would be like a dedicated | | | | services, you will add to your monthly bill as well. |
| server package from a web host provider. | | | | It appears that Rackspace wins on pricing, although |
| If you plan to use a cloud computing company in lieu | | | | as you add on more CPU Cycles and storage they |
| of a CDN, thinking you can just build your own CDN | | | | may increase significantly. Rackspace is also known |
| within their cloud, think again! Start asking your | | | | for their customer service, which will count for a lot. |
| cloud-computing vendor these questions: how many | | | | Amazon's pricing seems convoluted and confusing, it |
| data centers are they in? What kind of peering | | | | looks cheap on the outside, but if you add up all your |
| arrangements do they have? What are their peek | | | | inbound/outbound, storage and class of service, their |
| bandwidth capabilities/egress capabilities? Where in | | | | pricing isn't too aggressive. Also, Amazon is not |
| the world are they hosted? Will your servers be | | | | known for customer service at all. Getting a hold of |
| replicated everywhere around the world or just in | | | | tech support may be a chore. GoGrid's pricing is very |
| the US, just in one data center? Are there more | | | | close to Rackspaces' and their product seems top |
| costs involved for Europe, Asia, or Australia delivery? | | | | notch, also the free load balancing counts for a lot, |
| What if you need streaming servers for videos, can | | | | so don't count out GoGrid. Finally, AT&T has |
| they do that? What about mobile delivery? Do they | | | | only just announced their cloud storage product. Their |
| offer token-based authentication? Pseudo Flash | | | | web site doesn't disclose pricing. Good luck getting |
| Streaming? What about encoding and transcoding? | | | | someone at AT&T on the phone that can help |
| Does your cloud-computing vendor have any content | | | | you understand their product. |
| management software or video? Do they support | | | | Conclusion |
| live video delivery? These are all questions to | | | | If you're looking at Cloud Computing to increase |
| consider if you think you want to use a | | | | website performance, you may consider a CDN first. |
| cloud-computing company instead of a CDN. | | | | Examine why your site is under performing. Do you |
| A tier 1 CDN like Limelight or Akamai will have | | | | need more databases, do you need more mail |
| thousands of servers to cache your content around | | | | servers? Do you need more domains? These are all |
| the world. They will offer all those ancillary services | | | | reasons to get cloud computing. But if you have a lot |
| related to content delivery. A CDN will support | | | | of videos, music or software downloads or your |
| streaming and HTTP progressive downloads. They will | | | | pages are sluggish, then a CDN is the way to go! |
| probably have Adobe, Microsoft and Apple servers. A | | | | Ideally, your best solution will be to use both a |
| CDN will be able to support live events. On top of | | | | cloud-computing company and a CDN. This will give |
| that you will be able to accelerate your whole site, | | | | you optimal performance, flexibility, and reliability. |
| with Akamai's DSA or Limelight's Limelight Site | | | | If you have any questions about this topic, please |
| services. You are not limited to just videos with a | | | | post them here. |
| CDN, any piece of content can be delivered via a | | | | |