--- title: "CDN overview: how delivery works" description: "What a CDN resource is, how origins and domains map to delivery, and how to choose between standard delivery, video delivery, and managed streaming for a lawful adult platform." url: "https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/" dateModified: "2026-09-12" --- [Home](https://adultinfra.com/) / [Docs](https://adultinfra.com/docs/) / Delivery and CDN # CDN overview: how delivery works What a CDN resource is, how origins and domains map to delivery, and how to choose between standard delivery, video delivery, and managed streaming for a lawful adult platform. LAST REVIEWED 2026-09-13 ON THIS PAGE - [The three delivery modes](https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/#the-three-delivery-modes) - [Origins and origin groups](https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/#origins-and-origin-groups) - [Domains and TLS](https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/#domains-and-tls) - [What to decide before you configure](https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/#what-to-decide-before-you-configure) - [Where AdultInfra fits](https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/#where-adultinfra-fits) A **CDN resource** is the configuration that connects one or more domains to one or more origins and defines how delivery behaves: caching, access control, headers, TLS, logging, and security. Domains that need different settings need separate resources. Almost every delivery decision later in this documentation is a property of a resource. This page explains the model behind the control plane described on the [CDN platform page](https://adultinfra.com/cdn-platform/), and how to choose the right delivery mode for adult video, live, and website traffic. ## The three delivery modes Mode What you bring What the edge does Best for Standard CDN A website, API, or prepared assets Caches and serves HTTP content, applies access and security policy Portals, APIs, thumbnails, downloads Video CDN Prepared HLS, DASH, MP4, or FLV Caches and distributes prepared video, honours byte ranges, protects origin Tube and VOD libraries, live streams you already package Managed streaming A raw contribution feed Ingests, transcodes, packages, and delivers, with recording and DVR Live-cam and creator platforms that do not want to run a media pipeline Choose standard delivery when your media stack already produces playable output. Choose managed streaming when you want ingest and transcoding handled for you. The two are complementary: most adult platforms run website and API traffic on standard delivery and video on video delivery, then add managed streaming only for the live or adaptive-bitrate paths that need it. ## Origins and origin groups An origin is where the edge fetches content on a cache miss. You can point a resource at a single origin, or define an **origin group** with a primary and one or more backups so a failing origin does not become a viewer-facing outage. Common origin patterns for adult platforms: - **Object storage** holding packaged media, originals, and derivatives. - **A private origin** that only accepts requests from edge addresses, so it cannot be scraped or attacked directly. - **An origin group** with a warm standby, used during deploys or storage migrations. Keep origins private. If your origin is reachable from the public internet, caching and security at the edge can be bypassed entirely. ## Domains and TLS A resource serves a primary domain and optional aliases. Issue or attach a TLS certificate per domain, force HTTPS, and choose the minimum acceptable TLS version. HTTP/3 and HTTP/2 are negotiated automatically for supported clients. Prefer a dedicated certificate per brand so a shared certificate never leaks one property’s identity into another’s. ## What to decide before you configure - **Traffic class.** Website and API, prepared video, live, or a mix. - **Origin architecture.** Single origin, origin group, or object storage, and how the origin is protected. - **Cache strategy.** Which bytes are cacheable, for how long, and keyed on what. See [Cache control and cache keys](https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cache-control/). - **Access model.** Public, signed, token-gated, geo-restricted, or a combination. - **Failure behaviour.** What the edge serves when the origin is unhealthy, and how misses are collapsed. See [Origin shielding and failover](https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/origin-shielding/). - **Observability.** Which logs you export and which metrics you alert on. ## Where AdultInfra fits The platform exposes these controls directly and AdultInfra tunes them for adult workloads: range-heavy seeking, long-tail catalogues, volatile live concurrency, and origin-egress cost. If you are deciding whether a controlled test is worth it, start with [Adult video CDN](https://adultinfra.com/adult-video-cdn/) and bring one hostname and the metric you want to improve. **Need this configured for your platform?** [Get a test plan](https://adultinfra.com/contact/) and an engineer will map the resource, cache, and delivery design to your workload. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"TechArticle","headline":"CDN overview: how delivery works","description":"What a CDN resource is, how origins and domains map to delivery, and how to choose between standard delivery, video delivery, and managed streaming for a lawful adult platform.","url":"https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/","dateModified":"2026-09-13","keywords":"adult CDN overview, CDN resource, origin pull, video delivery, CDN for porn sites","author":{"@id":"https://adultinfra.com/#organization"},"publisher":{"@id":"https://adultinfra.com/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://adultinfra.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Documentation","item":"https://adultinfra.com/docs/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"CDN overview: how delivery works","item":"https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/"}]}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://adultinfra.com/#organization","name":"AdultInfra","url":"https://adultinfra.com","logo":"https://adultinfra.com/favicon.svg","description":"Luxembourg-based specialist infrastructure for adult platforms.","slogan":"Already behind the adult internet.","areaServed":"Worldwide","knowsAbout":["Adult video CDN","Porn tube site infrastructure","Adult live-cam streaming","Creator subscription platforms","Byte-range video caching","Origin shielding","Player quality of experience","DDoS protection","GPU infrastructure","Adult-capable AI inference"],"location":{"@type":"Place","name":"Luxembourg","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressCountry":"LU"}},"contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"sales","url":"https://adultinfra.com/contact/"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/#webpage","url":"https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/","name":"CDN overview: how delivery works","description":"What a CDN resource is, how origins and domains map to delivery, and how to choose between standard delivery, video delivery, and managed streaming for a lawful adult platform.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://adultinfra.com/#website"},"about":{"@id":"https://adultinfra.com/#organization"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://adultinfra.com/og-default.png"},"inLanguage":"en","mainEntity":{"@id":"https://adultinfra.com/docs/cdn/cdn-overview/#article"},"dateModified":"2026-09-13"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://adultinfra.com/#website","url":"https://adultinfra.com","name":"AdultInfra","description":"Luxembourg-based specialist infrastructure for adult platforms.","publisher":{"@id":"https://adultinfra.com/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":{"@type":"ContactAction","target":"https://adultinfra.com/contact/"}}]} ```