Anycast

Noun · Development

Definitions

  1. A network addressing method where the same IP address is advertised from multiple locations worldwide. Traffic is automatically routed to the nearest (by BGP hop count) server. Used by CDNs (Cloudflare, Fastly), DNS providers (Google's 8.8.8.8, Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1), and DDoS mitigation services to distribute load geographically.

    In plain English: Using the same IP address in multiple locations worldwide, so users are automatically routed to the closest server.

    Example: "Cloudflare announces 1.1.1.1 from 300+ data centers -- your DNS query goes to the nearest one via BGP anycast routing."

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