google-cdngoogle-cloud-cdn

Edge side Includes in Google CDN


Currently we are working on solutioning a situation where we have to use Edge side Include. We are aware that this Option can be implemented from the CDN also. The CDN we are using is Google CDN ., Does Google CDN provide this option of Edge side Include like in Akamai.

Any documentation how it can implemented.?


Solution

  • Google's Cloud CDN service does not support ESI. Akamai is one of the few CDN vendors that actually supports ESI within their platform. The CDN industry as a whole has not widely adopted that syntax.

    Depending on what you are trying to do, consider leveraging Cloud Functions or Cloud Run to perform serverless functionality that isn't tied to the ESI syntax.

    If you REALLY want to run ESI on Google Cloud, then consider running Varnish with the ESI module via Cloud Run and then tie that into the Google Cloud Load Balancer (GCLB) as a serverless attachment on the backend service with Cloud CDN running over the top of the GCLB.

    Much of the industry is moving towards Proxy WASM type functionality for inline request/response processing: Fastly, Cloudflare, Lumen. AWS is leaning on Lambda for some of their inline processing.

    At Google NEXT 2022, we announced Network Actions, which is our new edge programability functionality which allows you run RUST code via WASM to mutate request/response headers inline with the Media CDN service.