Vultr Content Delivery Network

Introduction

Vultr CDN is a content delivery service that securely distributes static assets such as images, scripts, stylesheets, and multimedia to multiple regions across the world to enable fast content delivery. When a user requests a cached file, it's served from the nearest Vultr CDN point of presence (POP) depending on the user's location instead of the origin server which improves the response generation time.

Vultr CDN offers two types of content delivery zones, pull zones and push zones that enable you to cache and deliver static assets in multiple regions.

• Vultr CDN Pull Zones: Automatically pull content from your existing origin server to store the latest copy of your full web application and deliver static assets depending on your cache policies and visitor locations.
• Vultr CDN Push Zones: Enable you to manually upload files to CDN storage and securely cache the files to multiple locations for delivery using your Vultr CDN URL.

Vultr CDN Features

A Vultr CDN subscription includes the following additional features you can enable to secure and deliver content. Depending Vultr CDN zone, you can enable or disable any of the following features to match your asset delivery needs.

• CORS

  Cross Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) is a content validation mechanism that allows content delivery from multiple domains. When enabled, you can use content cached on your Vultr CDN such as fonts, icons, javascript, or CSS files from another domain.

• Gzip

  Turns on Gzip compression to reduce the size of cached assets for faster delivery.

• Block AI Bots

  Blocks common AI bots and tools from crawling and accessing content cached on your Vultr CDN. This protects your static assets from duplication and unauthorized access.

• Block Potentially Malicious Bots

  Blocks unrecognized or low safety score bots from crawling and accessing content cached on your Vultr CDN.

Create a Vultr CDN Pull Zone

A Vultr CDN Pull Zone automatically pulls the latest version of your web application or origin server to cache and deliver the contents using a unique CDN URL. Follow the steps below to create a new Vultr CDN Pull Zone and integrate your existing web application to cache content.

1. Open the Vultr Customer Portal.

2. Click Products on the main navigation menu. Then, expand the CDN group and click Pull Zones from the list of options.

3. Click Add CDN Pull Zone to set up a new Vultr CDN Pull Zone.

   

4. Enter a descriptive name in the Label field to identify your Vultr CDN Pull Zone. For example my_cdn.

   

5. Enter your origin server URL in the Origin URL field. For example, https://example.com.

6. Select optional performance features to enable on your CDN URL.

   

7. Optional: click Use a custom domain to enter a new custom domain and upload SSL certificates to use with the domain.

8. Click Add CDN to create your Vultr CDN Pull Zone.

   

9. Wait for the Vultr CDN Pull Zone to create and redirect to your CDN subscription page. Verify the generated CDN URL in the CDN Domain field you can use to access your cached files and your origin server URL in the Origin URL field.

   

Create a Vultr CDN Push Zone

A Vultr CDN Push Zone enables you to manually upload and deliver cached files to multiple regions. A Push Zone is important when delivering large files above 100MB that may not be efficiently cached with a Pull Zone. Follow the steps below to set up a new Vultr CDN Push Zone, upload and deliver files using your Vultr CDN's URL.

1. Open the Vultr Customer Portal.

2. Click Products on the main navigation menu. Then, expand the CDN group and click Push Zones from the list of options.

3. Click Add CDN Push Zone to create a new Vultr CDN Pull Zone.

   

4. Enter a descriptive name in the Label field to identify your Vultr CDN Push Zone. For example my_push_zone.

5. Select optional performance features to enable on your CDN URL.

6. Optional: click Use a custom domain to enable a custom domain with your SSL certificate files.

7. Click Add CDN Push Zone to create your Vultr CDN Push Zone.

   

8. Wait for the Vultr CDN Push Zone to create and redirect to your CDN subscription page. Verify the generated CDN URL in the CDN Domain field you can use to access your cached files.

   

Upload Files to a Vultr CDN Push Zone

Vultr CDN Push Zones support manual file uploads to enable caching and delivery of optimized files using your CDN URL. Follow the steps below to manually upload files to your Vultr CDN Push Zone using the CDN's management page.

1. Click Manage CDN on your Vultr Push Zones page to access the CDN's management page.
2. Navigate to the Files tab to access the CDN upload options.

1. Verify all existing files and the File Count value in your Vultr CDN Push Zone.
2. Click Upload File and enter your desired filename in the File Name field. For example, index.html to identify it in your CDN storage directory.

1. Click Choose File to browse your local device directories and upload a new file to the CDN.
2. Wait for the file upload process to complete and verify that a success message displays with your file available in the CDN storage directory.
3. Wait for the file deployment process to your Vultr CDN Push Zone locations to complete. Then, copy the File URL value to access the file using your CDN URL.

Manage a Vultr CDN Zone

Depending on your Vultr CDN Zone subscription, click Manage CDN to access your CDN's management page. Then, follow the sections below to verify your CDN performance, billing, usage statistics, active regions, and features available in the management interface.

Overview Tab

The Vultr CDN overview tab includes the general performance and usage information about your CDN zone that is displayed in the following sections.

CDN Activity

Displays your real-time CDN usage activity with the following information:

• Most Active: The most active Vultr location with the highest number of user requests to your CDN zone.
• Least Active: The least active Vultr location with the lowest number of user requests to your CDN zone.
• Current Charges: Displays the real-time Vultr CDN charges incurred by your zone and billed at the end of a billing cycle. For more information, view the Vultr CDN pricing.

CDN Information

Includes information about your Vultr CDN subscription depending on the zone type with the following values:

• Origin URL: The source origin server or web application URL cached to your Vultr CDN Pull Zone.
• CDN URL: The Vultr CDN domain URL you can use to access your cached files.
• Name: Your descriptive Vultr CDN subscription label. Click the existing value to change the name to a new label.
• Regions: Active Vultr locations in abbreviated form used by your Vultr CDN to deliver cached assets to your users. For example, a value such as ATL represents Atlanta.
• Last Purge: Displays the last time you manually purged the Vultr CDN Pull Zone cache to fetch new data from your origin URL.

General Information

Includes general information about your Vultr CDN billing and activity details.

• Status: Displays the real-time Vultr CDN zone status. When active, your CDN zone is actively running and delivering cached content using your CDN URL. Paused means that the Vultr CDN is not actively running and does not accept any requests to your CDN URL.
• Next Bill Price: Displays the estimated Vultr CDN zone charges billed to your account at the end of a billing cycle.
• Total Usage fees: Displays your real-time Vultr CDN zone usage fees.
• Created: Displays your Vultr CDN zone uptime since the time of creation.

Limits

• Cache Size: Displays the maximum amount of cached data stored on your Vultr CDN zone before purging.
• Packets: The maximum number of packets served by your CDN URL per second.

Resources

Links to important Vultr CDN resources about your zone subscription.

Usage Graphs Tab

Displays your Vultr CDN usage information.

• Hit Ratio: The average traffic hit averages to your Vultr CDN zone.
• Server Traffic: The estimated amount of server traffic delivered by your Vultr CDN zone.

Regions Tab

View and modify your Vultr CDN zone regions in this tab. By default, all Vultr locations are selected, click View Region Usage Rates to verify the bandwidth usage rates before deactivating a region. Then, select your target locations to disable and click Update regions to update your Vultr CDN zone region preferences.

Features Tab

Add or remove CDN features in this tab. Depending on your needs, you can enable CORS policies, enable gzip compression, block AI crawlers, and bad bots to improve your Vultr CDN zone performance.

Custom Domain Tab

Set Up a custom domain to replace the Vultr CDN URL and use it to access your cached Vultr CDN assets in this tab. Enter a new domain in the Custom Domain field, upload your domain's SSL files in the Domain-validated Certificate Files(SSL/TLS) section, and click Update Custom Domain to save your domain's details.

Purge CDN

Vultr CDN Pull Zones support manual purging to clear your CDN cache and fetch new data using the origin URL. Click Purge CDN and check the Yes, Purge this CDN confirmation prompt to verify your CDN zone changes. Then, click Purge CDN to confirm and clear your CDN cache.

FAQs

Can I Create a Vultr CDN Pull Zone and a Vultr CDN Push Zone at the same time?

Yes, you can create and use multiple Vultr CDN Pull Zones and Vultr CDN Push Zones at the same time depending on your needs. A Vultr CDN Pull Zone requires an active web application or origin server to pull your content from while a Vultr CDN Push Zone allows you to manually upload your files to the CDN storage.

In How many Regions can I deploy a Vultr CDN Zone?

You can deploy a Vultr CDN zone to all supported Vultr Locations. Available regions include North America, Europe, South America, Asia, Middle East and Africa.

How do I add a Vultr CDN CNAME record in my DNS Records?

Log in to your domain registrar such as Vultr DNS or Cloudflare. Edit your DNS Records to create a new CNAME record that points to your Vultr CDN URL. For example:

Navigate to the Custom Domain tab on your Vultr DNS zone's management page. Enter your full domain in the Custom Domain field, upload the associated SSL certificates, and click Update Custom Domain to save changes.

How can I use a Vultr CDN Zone with my Web Application?

Modify your web server configuration to include rewrite directives that replace specific file requests with your Vultr CDN zone URL. When running dynamic web application frameworks such as WordPress, install a CDN plugin that rewrites content request rules to your Vultr CDN Pull Zone.

Where do I find cost estimates for my Vultr CDN?

Navigate to the General Information section within the Overview tab to view the Next Bill Price estimate for your Vultr CDN zone. View the Current Charges estimate to verify the accrued CDN billing charges. Your Next Bill Price estimate projects your next CDN zone charges while the Current Charges estimate represents your real-time costs billed to your account at the end of a billing cycle.

For more information, please visit the Vultr CDN pricing.

How do I Refresh my Vultr CDN Pull Zone Cache data?

Click Purge CDN to delete your existing Vultr CDN Pull Zone data and fetch the latest data from your origin URL. Your Vultr CDN Pull Zone automatically updates the cached data every 24 hours if no origin requests are detected. When using plugins such as W3 Total Cache with WordPress applications, your Vultr CDN Pull Zone periodically updates the cached content depending on the plugin configurations.

What Should I Consider When Choosing Vultr CDN Zone Locations?

Verify your web application visitor locations using analytics data and enable Vultr CDN zone locations closest to your users. Click View Region Usage Rates in the Regions tab to verify the respective charges per region before activating a new location.

Do Vultr CDN Zones Increase My Site's Region Availability Similar to Geo DNS?

Vultr CDN is a content delivery service that delivers your cached content to multiple regions depending on user locations. A Vultr CDN zone is not a drop-in replacement for Geo DNS because all requests are directed to your root domain or origin server IP address, but specific content types are offloaded and delivered by your CDN zone. Thus, a Vultr CDN zone improves your web application load time, but your general site availability depends on your DNS configurations.