Practice Test Geeks(CDN) Content Delivery Network Certification Practice Test
← All CDN Flashcard Decks

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 role does an 'Internet Exchange Point' (IXP) play in CDN infrastructure?

    Answer: It is a physical facility where CDNs and ISPs interconnect to exchange traffic directly

    IXPs are neutral facilities enabling CDNs to peer with many ISPs under one roof, reducing latency and transit costs.

  2. Which CDN architecture concept describes placing edge servers inside an ISP's own network to eliminate the last-mile hop?

    Answer: Embedded CDN / ISP-hosted PoP (e.g., Netflix Open Connect)

    Embedded CDNs install appliances directly inside ISP networks so content travels zero hops over the public internet to reach subscribers.

  3. What is 'prefetching' in the context of CDN cache warming?

    Answer: Proactively fetching and caching content at edge nodes before user demand arrives

    Cache warming via prefetch pushes anticipated objects to edge nodes ahead of a live event or product launch so the first user request is a cache hit.

  4. In CDN health monitoring, what is an 'active health check' as opposed to a 'passive' one?

    Answer: Active checks send synthetic probe requests to origins/edges on a schedule; passive checks infer health from real user traffic failures

    Active health checks proactively test endpoints at intervals, enabling failure detection even when no real users are sending traffic.

  5. What is the purpose of a CDN's 'WAF' (Web Application Firewall) component at the edge?

    Answer: To inspect and block malicious HTTP traffic (SQLi, XSS, etc.) before it reaches the origin

    An edge WAF applies rule-based and ML-driven inspection to HTTP requests, filtering attacks at the CDN layer before they can harm the origin.

  6. What distinguishes a 'pull CDN' from a 'push CDN'?

    Answer: A pull CDN fetches content from origin on demand; a push CDN requires the operator to proactively upload content to edge nodes

    Pull CDNs are lazy — they populate caches on first request; push CDNs require explicit content uploads, giving operators precise control over what is cached.

  7. Which metric best measures the effectiveness of a CDN cache in reducing origin load?

    Answer: Cache Hit Ratio (CHR)

    Cache Hit Ratio is the percentage of requests served from cache without contacting the origin; a higher CHR means less origin load.

How this page was made: written with AI tools and published by Nathan Beja, founder of Practice Test Geeks, who is responsible for its content. We have not yet matched this exam's facts to an official source, so confirm fees, dates and rules with the exam body. Not reviewed by a subject-matter expert. Editorial policy