Differences Between Rackspace CDN and Rackspace Cloud Files

Rackspace Cloud Files is storage service that enables users to store an unlimited number of files and to publish and distribute content behind a content delivery network (CDN). Rackspace CDN is a service to manage your CDN-enabled domains and the origins and assets associated with those domains.

Following are some differences between Rackspace CDN and Cloud Files:

  • Users of Rackspace CDN specify the origins that host the content, and the CDN pulls the content from these origins. Origins can be dedicated servers, cloud servers, cloud load balancers, a Cloud Files container, or servers hosted outside of Rackspace. Users of Cloud Files can enable a CDN on a container, distributing the contents of that container to the CDN's edge nodes.
  • Rackspace CDN has no limit on purges. Cloud Files limits the number of purges per account, per day to 25.
  • Rackspace CDN does not yet support streaming video from Cloud Files However, serving other CDN-enabled containers or serving CDN-enabled content over SSL/TLS is possible. Cloud Files supports streaming video
    from CDN-enabled containers as well as serving CDN-enabled content over SSL/TLS. Note: Cloud Files streaming will be decommissioned on July 31, 2022.

These, and other differences, are summarized in the following table:

Rackspace CDNCloud Files CDN
OriginAny public web serverCloud Files CDN-enabled Container
Custom domainsCustomizable for HTTP and HTTPS (HTTPS via SAN or Custom SSL)CNAME for HTTP only
Caching rules (TTL)CustomizableFlat per Container
Force Refresh ContentPurge (per file)
Invalidate (Simple RegEX)
Purge (per file)
Limit 25 per day
RestrictionsHTTP Referrer, GeoLocation, IP AddressN/A
StreamingNo support is provided, with exception to CDN-enabled content over SSL/TSLChunked encoded streaming and iOS streaming available until July 31, 2022

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