Costs

Synopsis This chapter describes cost modeling and contract structure for multi-CDN. It explains how to forecast traffic, choose commit levels, control overage risk, and align commercial terms across providers. It also covers cost-aware routing, regional and product differences, invoice reconciliation, and clauses that protect the deployment when conditions change. Cost model foundations A simple model separates data transfer out, request charges, advanced product usage, and fixed fees. Each component varies by region and product family. The model expresses spend as a function of volume, mix, and route. Granularity by region and content type is required because prices and cache behavior differ. The model must match how providers bill so that reconciliation is possible without manual guesswork. ...

Synopsis This chapter explains how to design and operate traffic steering for multi-CDN. It covers inputs and data quality, common policy types, precedence rules, health and failover, stability controls, cost awareness, and rollout practices. Inputs and data Effective policies need inputs that reflect user experience and provider health. Synthetic measurements provide controlled and repeatable data but can miss last mile conditions. Real user measurements capture actual paths and networks but require sampling, privacy controls, and careful aggregation. Health signals from providers are useful but should not be trusted without verification. Logs and metrics from the service stack provide the ground truth for outcomes. ...