Alibaba Cloud Content Delivery Network (CDN) can cache static resources stored on Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances to accelerate the delivery of the resources. ECS instances can store both static and dynamic resources. When a client requests dynamic resources from an ECS instance, the ECS instance returns the requested resources to the client. When a client requests static resources from an ECS instance, if the CDN node nearest to the client has cached the requested resources, the CDN node returns the cached resources to the client. This way, the delivery of the static resources is accelerated. This topic describes how to enable Alibaba Cloud CDN to accelerate the delivery of resources on ECS instances in the Alibaba Cloud CDN console and the scenarios where Alibaba Cloud CDN can be applied.
Prerequisites
Before you perform the tasks described in this document, make sure that you have completed account registration and real-name authentication with Alibaba Cloud.
Background information
Alibaba Cloud CDN works with a precise scheduling system. This system redirects requests for static resources to CDN nodes that are nearest to the clients. This mechanism enables efficient retrieval of required resources and minimizes network congestion.

- All requests destined for the origin server are redirected to CDN nodes. This reduces the workloads on the origin server.
- Compared with data transfer between clients and ECS instances over the Internet, data transfer between clients and CDN nodes is billed at a lower price rate.
- Clients retrieve static resources from the nearest CDN nodes. This minimizes the network transmission distance and ensures the quality of the retrieved resources.
In the following example, Alibaba Cloud DNS is used to demonstrate how to configure a Canonical Name (CNAME) record.
Procedure
- In the OSS console, set parameters to enable Alibaba Cloud CDN to accelerate the delivery
of content from your ECS instance.
- Log on to the Alibaba Cloud CDN console and obtain the CNAME assigned to the domain
name.
- In the Alibaba Cloud DNS console, add a CNAME record for the domain name.
- On an on-premises machine, check whether the CNAME record works as expected.