What is "cdn"?

I see connections to anything.cdn.anything.com (or .net) a lot while browsing.
What is "cdn"?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_delivery_network

To put it simply, it's a bunch of servers used to host content. Sometimes they are not hosted by the 1st party website, that is where 3rd party CDN providers come in. They make a business off of setting up massive data centres with high bandwidth and providing it to companies.

 

Thank you
For now, I've blocked anything with cdn with a few exceptions. I'll keep adding to the list and see if anything breaks or if page loading speeds are obviously reduced.

askubuntu.com is one site for which I've allowed access.

 

Here is an example as per this screenshot:



This is from Socket Sentinel Pro by NoVirusThanks per this thread > https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=312641

 

we own a few websites that ship almost every where worldwide and we use a cdn due to the issues of slowdown the further from the main servers you get. and example is if we have a host in cali. when you browse the systems in cali close to the main server will be very fast to load those pages but say in florida you may see some slowdown or maybe a lot depending on the route it takes and even worse in say the uk etc.. by using a cdn we can have it load just as fast for anyone almost everywhere in the world..since remote servers cache the info and when someone calls a page it comes from the nearest server to them...

 

What are you trying to accomplish?

 

Faster loading of content I want to read. My "broadband" connection is a bit of a joke.

 

This *might* have just the reverse effect (depending on what exactly you're blocking). CDN's are frequently used on e.g. YouTube to get content to you using a closer server. Though it wouldn't really matter if you're blocking content you don't want to see anyway, like an image.

 

True but I have the option to exclude certain rules applying to certain sites.

In that case, with my net speed, the page loads faster so it's worth the trouble.
Just to give you a few examples of blocks and requests ....

Code:

Blocked: http://cdn.insights.gravity.com/moth-min.js
Request: cdn.sstatic.net/js/revisions.js?v=ba0b3238d60e
Request: cdn.sstatic.net/js/full.js?v=9352b448bac1
Request: cdn.sstatic.net/js/tageditor.js?v=bdcf5e00cb94
Request: cdn.sstatic.net/js/wmd.js?v=a14c80341043
Request: static-ssl-cdn.addons.mozilla.net:443/
Request: static-cdn.addons.mozilla.net:443/
Blocked: http://cdna.tremormedia.com/acudeo/banners.js
Blocked: http://cdn.viglink.com/api/vglnk.js
Blocked: http://cdn.fastclick.net/js/adcodes/pubcode.min.js
Blocked: http://cdn.omgubuntu.co.uk//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Blocked: http://cdn.omgubuntu.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/scrolly-banner-thing/banner.js
Blocked: http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/connect.php/js/FB.Share
Blocked: http://cdn.onswipe.com/synapse/on.js?usr=extremetech&phone=1

And as you point out, even images are served (and blocked):

Code:

Blocked: http://cdn.omgubuntu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-Shot-2012-01-12-at-11.02.50.png

but if I wish to view certain images from certain sites, I can adjust things. A bit fidgety, I admit, but overall, my experience is positive (with my net speed).

 

ABP in Firefox should make things easier to manage for on-the-fly adjustment. Also if you have no use for twitter/facebook counters and the like, I've heard Fanboy's "annoyances" filter can help, might be something that reduces things downloaded for you.