Akamai Web Performance study plan

Define CDN fundamentals (edge vs origin, PoP, anycast routing, TTL, cache key) in your own words

Map the Akamai property hierarchy (property, version, rule tree, default rule, behaviors, match conditions) by sketching a rule tree

Explain how a request flows from client to edge to parent to origin, including where caching and behaviors apply

Identify which property manager concepts (hostnames, CP codes, edge hostnames, certificates) gate a first deployment

Build a property rule tree with hostname match, caching, and origin behaviors for a sample site

Configure and justify at least three match conditions (path, query, header, device) for content segmentation

Activate a property version through staging and production and describe the validation and activation workflow

Document rollback and version-comparison steps for a misconfigured behavior

Set cache TTLs and cache keys for static, semi-dynamic, and API content and defend each choice

Configure cache-control behavior overrides and explain precedence between origin headers and edge settings

Design a cache invalidation strategy (purge by URL, by tag/CP code, TTL-based expiry) with cost and latency tradeoffs

Tune prefetching and tiered distribution to reduce origin load

Apply edge compute and edge logic to personalize responses without breaking cacheability

Configure compression and image optimization behaviors and measure their effect on transfer size

Implement HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 delivery settings and explain their performance benefits

Compare origin offload before and after your caching and compression changes

Identify front-end bottlenecks (render-blocking resources, unoptimized images, excessive JS) on a sample page

Apply edge-side optimizations such as image manager, minification, and preconnect/dns-prefetch hints

Explain critical rendering path, LCP, CLS, and INP and how edge delivery influences each

Prioritize a list of front-end fixes by expected impact on Core Web Vitals

Interpret CDN logs, cache hit ratio, origin offload, and error-rate metrics from a monitoring dashboard

Build a troubleshooting decision tree for cache misses, 5xx errors, and slow TTFB

Use synthetic and real-user measurement tools to compare edge vs origin performance

Trace a request end-to-end to isolate whether latency originates at client, edge, or origin

Configure TLS, certificate management, and HTTPS behaviors for a property

Apply edge security controls (WAF, rate limiting, bot mitigation) and explain their performance tradeoffs

Design a redundancy and failover plan covering origin failover and multi-CDN or multi-PoP resilience

Document change management and safe-activation practices for production properties

Rehearse weak areas identified by practice questions across all six domains

Reconstruct the full request lifecycle and configuration workflow from memory

Complete a timed mixed-domain practice set and review every missed item

Consolidate notes into a one-page quick-reference sheet for exam day