Azure CDN Profiles and Endpoints

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a distributed network of servers placed at geographic Points of Presence (PoPs) close to end users. When a user requests content, the CDN serves it from the nearest PoP cache instead of your origin server. This reduces latency (especially for users far from your origin region), lowers origin server load, and improves resilience. Azure CDN integrates natively with Blob Storage, App Service, and any publicly reachable HTTP origin.

Azure CDN is offered through multiple provider tiers: Azure CDN Standard from Microsoft — the default, tightly integrated option with basic caching rules and HTTP/2 support. Azure CDN Standard from Akamai — broad global PoP coverage with fast propagation. Azure CDN Standard/Premium from Verizon — advanced rules engine and analytics (Premium tier). Each provider has different feature sets and pricing; for most AZ-900 scenarios, Azure CDN Standard from Microsoft is the focus.