Content delivery

Both services in this section move the point where users first reach an application closer to those users, onto AWS’s edge network. They solve different problems. CloudFront caches and serves HTTP content from edge locations. Global Accelerator gives an application static anycast IP addresses and carries TCP and UDP traffic over the AWS backbone.

Start with Amazon CloudFront for what it is and how origin failover and private content work. The pages on origins and caching, and on cache behaviours, cover how a distribution decides where each request goes. CloudFront SSL/TLS and SNI configuration covers certificates for a custom domain and choosing a security policy — an easy place to leave a distribution weaker than intended.

For logic at the edge, Lambda@Edge and CloudFront Functions explains which of the two a given task belongs to. For non-HTTP traffic, or when clients need fixed IP addresses, see AWS Global Accelerator.