Automatic migration of data via a distributed computer network

• US 20040221019A1
• Filed: 04/29/2004
• Published: 11/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Speedera Networks Incorporated (Akamai Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Swildens, Eric Sven-Johan, Cinquini, Maurice, Agarwal, Anshu, Chavarkar, Amol
• Granted Patent: US 7,143,170 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1038 Load balancing arrangements to avoid a single path through a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and apparatus for the automatic migration of data via a distributed computer network allows a customer to select content files that are to be transferred to a group of edge servers. Origin sites store all of a customer'"'"'s available content files. An edge server maintains a dynamic number of popular files in its memory for the customer. The files are ranked from most popular to least popular and when a file has been requested from an edge server a sufficient number of times to become more popular than the lowest popular stored file, the file is obtained from an origin site. The edge servers are grouped into two service levels: regional and global. The customer is charged a higher fee to store its popular files on the global edge servers compared to a regional set of edge servers because of greater coverage.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a plurality of edge servers;

wherein edge servers are servers that deliver content to end users;

wherein the edge servers serve a customer'"'"'s most popular content to requesting users; and

providing tracking means on an edge server for tracking the popularity of a customer'"'"'s content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an edge server has a pre-allocated memory area reserved for a particular customer for storing a limited amount of the customer'"'"'s popular content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking means periodically creates an ordered list of a customer'"'"'s most popular content files using the number of requests tracked for a particular file.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

evaluating the ordered list for newly popular content files not stored on the edge server'"'"'s local storage that have become more popular than content files stored on the edge server'"'"'s local storage;

providing a plurality of origin servers;

wherein the origin servers store all of a customer'"'"'s available content; and

providing replicating means on the edge server for replicating newly popular content onto the edge server'"'"'s local storage from content from the origin servers.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising

replacing a lower popularity content file in local storage with a replicated content file.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

providing a staging server;

wherein the customer schedules content to be uploaded from a customer server to the staging server; and

wherein the staging server uploads received content to appropriate origin servers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of edge servers are partitioned into a plurality of sets of edge servers based on geographic regions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of edge servers are further partitioned into a global set of edge servers.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of edge servers are dynamically partitioned into a plurality of sets of edge servers based on using factors that include any of:

such as lower current cost, higher performance, and time-based availability.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing receiving means on an edge server for receiving a user'"'"'s request for customer content;

sending the requested content to the user if the requested content is stored on the edge server'"'"'s local storage; and

redirecting the user to an origin server that is likely to have the content stored locally if the edge server does not have the requested content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the redirecting step is located on a server that selects the best origin server by favoring origin servers that should be able to access the content on their local storage device rather than across a network.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving the user'"'"'s redirected request on the origin server;

sending the requested content to the user if the requested content is stored on the origin server'"'"'s local storage; and

redirecting the user to the customer'"'"'s staging server if the origin server does not have the requested content.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the redirecting step is located on a server that selects the best staging server by favoring staging servers that should be able to access the content on their local storage device rather than across a network.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of edge servers;

wherein edge servers are servers that deliver content to end users;

wherein the edge servers serve a customer'"'"'s most popular content to requesting users; and

tracking means on an edge server for tracking the popularity of a customer'"'"'s content.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein an edge server has a pre-allocated memory area reserved for a particular customer for storing a limited amount of the customer'"'"'s popular content.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the tracking means periodically creates an ordered list of a customer'"'"'s most popular content files using the number of requests tracked for a particular file.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

a module for evaluating the ordered list for newly popular content files not stored on the edge server'"'"'s local storage that have become more popular than content files stored on the edge server'"'"'s local storage;

a plurality of origin servers;

wherein the origin servers store all of a customer'"'"'s available content; and

replicating means on the edge server for replicating newly popular content onto the edge server'"'"'s local storage from content from the origin servers.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising

a module for replacing a lower popularity content file in local storage with a replicated content file.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a staging server;

wherein the customer schedules content to be uploaded from a customer server to the staging server; and

wherein the staging server uploads received content to appropriate origin servers.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the plurality of edge servers are partitioned into a plurality of sets of edge servers based on geographic regions.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the plurality of edge servers are further partitioned into a global set of edge servers.

22. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the plurality of edge servers are dynamically partitioned into a plurality of sets of edge servers based on using factors that include any of:

such as lower current cost, higher performance, and time-based availability.

23. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving means on an edge server for receiving a user'"'"'s request for customer content;

means for sending the requested content to the user if the requested content is stored on the edge server'"'"'s local storage; and

means for redirecting the user to an origin server that is likely to have the content stored locally if the edge server does not have the requested content.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the redirecting means is located on a server that selects the best origin server by favoring origin servers that should be able to access the content on their local storage device rather than across a network.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

means for receiving the user'"'"'s redirected request on the origin server;

means for sending the requested content to the user if the requested content is stored on the origin server'"'"'s local storage; and

means for redirecting the user to the customer'"'"'s staging server if the origin server does not have the requested content.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the redirecting means is located on a server that selects the best staging server by favoring staging servers that should be able to access the content on their local storage device rather than across a network.

27. A method, comprising:

providing a plurality of edge servers;

charging a customer a fee for a predetermined allocation of memory on the plurality of edge servers to store popular content; and

providing tracking means on an edge server for tracking the popularity of a customer'"'"'s content.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the plurality of edge servers are partitioned into a plurality of sets of edge servers based on geographic regions, and wherein the charging step charges the customer based on a memory allocation for a specific region.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the plurality of edge servers are further partitioned into a global set of edge servers, and wherein the charging step charges the customer a higher fee for a memory allocation in the global set of edge servers.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the plurality of edge servers are dynamically partitioned into a plurality of sets of edge servers based on using factors that include any of:

such as lower current cost, higher performance, and time-based availability, and wherein the charging step charges the customer based on a memory allocation for a dynamic partition.

31. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

providing a plurality of origin servers;

wherein the origin servers store all of a customer'"'"'s available content; and

wherein the charging step charges the customer a fee for storing the customer'"'"'s available content on the origin servers.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

providing replicating means on an edge server for replicating content onto the edge server'"'"'s local storage with content from the origin servers that has become popular; and

wherein the charging step charges the customer a fee for bandwidth consumed during the edge server'"'"'s replication.