> CDNs often rely on your DNS info to determine which node is closest to you and, thus, which node should offer the best performance.
Why do they do this? Wasn't DNS SUPPOSED to be something that wasn't in any way tied to locality? Are CDN's just using the side effect/fact of life that they happened to fall out that way, because it's easier?
Pretty much, yes. But it's not just easier, it's also simpler. If you do the distribution at the DNS level (which is pretty much as low as you can go), you don't have to deal with the much messier geo-distribution on a higher level.
Why do they do this? Wasn't DNS SUPPOSED to be something that wasn't in any way tied to locality? Are CDN's just using the side effect/fact of life that they happened to fall out that way, because it's easier?