Practice Test Geeks(CDN) Content Delivery Network Certification Practice Test
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Content Distribution & Caching 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 Content Distribution & Caching flashcards as text

  1. When a CDN performs 'cache key normalization', what is the main benefit?

    Answer: Increasing cache hit rates by stripping irrelevant query parameters from the cache key

    Normalizing cache keys (e.g., removing tracking parameters like 'utm_source') prevents duplicate cache entries for functionally identical URLs.

  2. Which HTTP response code from origin tells a CDN to serve the cached version of a resource (if available) because origin is temporarily unavailable?

    Answer: All of these may trigger stale-if-error serving

    The 'stale-if-error' directive allows CDNs to serve stale cache on any 5xx or network error from origin.

  3. What is 'Surrogate-Control' header primarily used for in CDN caching?

    Answer: Passing CDN-specific cache directives that CDNs honor but browsers ignore

    Surrogate-Control lets origin set CDN TTLs independently from browser TTLs since CDNs consume and strip this header before forwarding.

  4. A news website uses URL-based cache invalidation but realizes it cannot purge all edge nodes fast enough during breaking news. What pattern best addresses this?

    Answer: Use versioned URLs with short TTLs so updates deploy new URLs instantly

    Versioned URLs (cache-busting) guarantee fresh content without relying on purge propagation speed, as new URLs start with empty caches.

  5. Which caching layer sits closest to the end user in a typical multi-tier CDN architecture?

    Answer: Edge PoP (leaf node)

    Edge PoPs (leaf nodes) are geographically distributed closest to users and handle the initial request before escalating to parent caches.

  6. What does a 'MISS, stored' X-Cache response header from a CDN edge node indicate?

    Answer: The resource was not in cache, fetched from origin, and is now cached for future requests

    'MISS, stored' confirms a cache miss occurred but the response was successfully stored at the edge for subsequent cache hits.

  7. Which technique allows a CDN to serve personalized content while still leveraging edge caching for the page shell?

    Answer: Fragment caching — cache the static shell, personalize only via client-side JavaScript or ESI fragments

    Fragment caching separates the cacheable page shell from personalized components fetched client-side or assembled via ESI at the edge.

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