Amazon CloudFront

Why is Amazon CloudFront important?
Amazon CloudFront is a crucial service for businesses looking to deliver content to users with low latency and high transfer speeds. It is a content delivery network (CDN) that securely distributes data, videos, applications, and APIs globally, providing a better user experience.

What is Amazon CloudFront?
Amazon CloudFront is a web service that speeds up the distribution of static and dynamic web content to end-users. It delivers content through a worldwide network of data centers called edge locations. When a user requests content served with CloudFront, the request is routed to the edge location that provides the lowest latency, ensuring the best possible performance.

How does Amazon CloudFront work?
1. A user requests content from a website or application served by CloudFront.
2. The request is routed to the nearest CloudFront edge location.
3. If the content is already cached at the edge location, CloudFront delivers it to the user.
4. If the content is not cached, CloudFront retrieves it from the origin server (e.g., Amazon S3, EC2, or a custom origin), caches it at the edge location, and delivers it to the user.
5. Subsequent requests for the same content are served from the edge location cache, reducing latency and improving performance.

How to answer questions regarding Amazon CloudFront in an exam?
1. Understand the key features and benefits of CloudFront, such as low latency, high transfer speeds, and global distribution.
2. Know how CloudFront integrates with other AWS services, such as Amazon S3, EC2, and Lambda@Edge.
3. Be familiar with CloudFront's caching behavior, including how to configure cache settings and invalidate objects.
4. Understand how to secure content using signed URLs, signed cookies, and origin access identity (OAI).
5. Recognize scenarios where using CloudFront can improve performance, reduce costs, and enhance security.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Amazon CloudFront
1. Look for keywords related to content delivery, low latency, and global distribution.
2. Consider whether the scenario requires dynamic or static content delivery.
3. Identify cases where CloudFront can be used to offload traffic from origin servers and improve scalability.
4. Pay attention to security requirements and choose the appropriate method (signed URLs, signed cookies, or OAI) to secure content.
5. Understand how CloudFront can be used in conjunction with other AWS services to build a complete solution.