Suppose you are going to start some kind of web project, a website, or an application, and need a server for that. You are likely to come across various offers, like a Netherlands virtual server or a United Kingdom dedicated server. In this case, you might ask yourself why there are different locations and what they affect.
Let’s have a look at what powers the Internet across the globe and what role is played here by data centers.
How does the Internet work?
The Internet is a net, a global network of cables that transmit information extremely fast. However, besides the cables themselves, a significant role is played by what is between them. Besides the users’ computers connected to the Internet with the help of an Internet service provider, data centers are the fundamental nodes of the internet, which are responsible for running websites and applications and making them accessible to users worldwide.
The Internet function is represented through moving pieces such as servers, data centers, and CDN.
Servers
The Internet would not exist without servers.
A server is a dedicated computer programmed to respond to requests from other devices, in other words, clients. Servers are used to share resources with devices over the network, manage and store data one can later access, and act as a gateway between computers that want to establish communication. Considering that servers can be also virtual, all of the mentioned functions can be performed by a virtual server as well. However, every virtual server relies on a specific physical machine to function; the latter is located in a data center.
Data Centers and Their Quality
A data center is the so-called home to a server that hosts your website and represents a physical place from where your website or application is accessible to the global audience. The logical consequence of this is that the reliability of your data center has a direct effect on how well your website will work, its page load speed, uptime, and overall security.
What makes the task of finding a data center easier is the fact that data centers are classified according to a data center tier classification. Tier III and IV data centers are those that conform to the highest standards. This means that they provide quality conditions for keeping servers, have access to high-quality and high-speed infrastructure, meet the highest standard of maintenance, and impose robust security measures, like strict access control and CCTV video surveillance. With this, you can have absolute peace of mind about your server data center-wise.
CDNs
A CDN, or a content delivery network, implies a network of servers at different locations, which is built this way for quicker content distribution to end users.
CDNs work through caching and rely on data centers to store copies of data. The data copy can then be picked up and sent to the server nearest to users requesting the data, which significantly reduces the overall latency and loading speed of the website.
Any content can be cached, including images and videos. And it is CDNs and the content copies they make that allow us to watch movies, view social media, or download things. CDN resembles ATM in many ways. If you have a specific request, like withdrawing money for example, you don’t need to go all the way to the bank to do that; you can use a local source to fulfill the desired purpose.
A Data Center Location
It’s not merely important to pay attention to the data center that houses your server, but also to where your data center is located. The distance between your server and your audience is physical, and overcoming it takes a certain amount of time.
The concept of CDN is where the importance of data center location shines through. For content delivery or distribution networks heavily rely on data centers all over the globe, which host servers the CDN distributes content through. CDN picks the server, hence the data center, closest to the user for quick and seamless content delivery.
Content distribution companies have their own PoPs (points of presence) aka the access points. Points of presence imply servers used for content distribution, and data centers are where the servers reside. The so-called collection of servers in the form of a data center reduces the expenses associated with IT infrastructure and allows using technology more effectively. Where the data center is located plays a huge role in how fast the users get access to the content.
Conclusion
Data centers are an integral part of the Internet, without which the latter won’t be able to exist. They connect to a global network of cables, which makes up the Internet. And because of this, the quality of equipment and infrastructure are some of the most important criteria for determining how good the data center is.