Practice Test Geeks(CDN) Content Delivery Network Certification Practice Test
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Architecture & Components Flashcards

7 cards from real CDN practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Architecture & Components flashcards as text

  1. What is the primary role of an Anycast network in CDN architecture?

    Answer: Route users to the nearest PoP based on network topology

    Anycast assigns the same IP address to multiple PoPs so BGP routing automatically directs users to the topologically nearest node.

  2. Which CDN component is responsible for translating a user's hostname into the IP address of the optimal edge server?

    Answer: Global Traffic Manager (GTM) / DNS-based routing

    A Global Traffic Manager uses DNS responses to steer clients to the best-performing edge node at request time.

  3. In a multi-tier CDN hierarchy, what distinguishes a 'parent' cache from an 'edge' cache?

    Answer: Edge caches fill cache misses from parent caches rather than the origin

    Parent (mid-tier) caches sit between edge nodes and the origin, absorbing cache-miss traffic so the origin receives far fewer requests.

  4. What is 'cache shielding' (also called origin shielding) designed to accomplish?

    Answer: Funnel all cache misses through a single upstream node to protect the origin

    Origin shielding collapses cache misses from many edge nodes into a single shield PoP, drastically reducing origin load.

  5. Which protocol feature allows a CDN edge server to maintain a single persistent connection to the origin while serving many concurrent client requests?

    Answer: Connection multiplexing / HTTP/2 streams

    HTTP/2 multiplexing lets multiple requests share one TCP connection, so the edge opens fewer connections to the origin.

  6. A CDN PoP contains hardware that performs SSL/TLS termination. What is the main benefit of terminating TLS at the edge rather than at the origin?

    Answer: It reduces round-trip latency because the TLS handshake completes near the user

    Terminating TLS at the nearest PoP shortens the handshake RTT, since the cryptographic exchange happens close to the end user.

  7. What does a CDN 'token authentication' mechanism typically protect against?

    Answer: Unauthorized hotlinking or direct URL sharing of protected assets

    Token authentication embeds a signed, time-limited token in the URL so only authorized requests can retrieve protected content.

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