Method for checking the functionality of a content delivery network related system and computer product

• US 20050021706A1
• Filed: 11/13/2002
• Published: 01/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Original Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Inventors: Maggi, Natascia, Nasuto, Antonio
• Granted Patent: US 8,195,788 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

To check the functionality of a Content Delivery Network in which the contents made available by at least a Content Provider are made available to a plurality of surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3 . . . ) in the aforesaid contents are included fictitious contents (φ, φ(i), φ_n) which arc selectively recognisable but inaccessible to users and Content Providers. The functionality of the network is checked verifying the availability of the aforesaid fictitious contents (φ, φ(i), φ_n) at the surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3, . . . ). The aforesaid fictitious contents are marked with information pertaining to time (TTL, and localisation. It is thus possible to verify the updating of the contents made available at the various surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3, . . . ) as well as the proper operation of the network from the geographic point of view, also in regards to the delivery of the contents in conditions of minimum service time.

Claims

1. Method for checking the functionality of a Content Delivery Network (CDN), wherein the contents made available by at least one Content Provider are made available to a plurality of surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3, . . . ) accessible to users, characterised in that it comprises the steps of:

including, in said contents, selectively recognisable fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n), and

checking the functionality of the network verifying the availability of said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n) in said surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3, . . . ).

2. Method as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that it comprises the step of making said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n) inaccessible to said users and/or to said at least one Content Provider.

3. Method as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that it comprises the step of including in said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n) time information data (TTL) and the step of verifying said time information data (TTL) in association with the action of verifying the availability of said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n) in said surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3, . . . ).

4. Method as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that it comprises the steps of:

defining a location information identifying the location of said surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3, . . . ),

including in said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n) said location information (φ

(i), φ

n), and

verifying, in association with the action of verifying the availability of said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n), the correspondence of said location information with the location of the surrogate site (POP1, POP2, POP3, . . . ) involved on the verification action.

5. Method as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that said step of verifying the correspondence of said location information is performed in distributed fashion effecting corresponding content requests from corresponding geographic locations.

6. Method as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that it comprises the steps of:

including in said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n) made available in said surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3, . . . ) a first set (φ

(i), φ

n) of fictitious contents at least partially differentiated for each surrogate site, and

requesting the CDN, during said verification step, to deliver fictitious contents of said first set. (φ

(i), φ

n.

7. Method as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that it comprises the step of requesting the CDN to deliver contents of said first set (φ

n) measuring the corresponding response times (t₁, t₂, t₃, . . . , t_n) of the network.

8. Method as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that said corresponding response times are measured as the mean of the expired times (T_n) for each individual site.

9. Method as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that it comprises the steps of:

including in said fictitious contents a second set (φ

) of fictitious contents with identical contents for said surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3, . . . ),

requesting the CDN to deliver contents of said second set (φ

) measuring the relative response time (T) of the CDN,

determining the minimum (min_n T⁻

_n) among said corresponding response times, and

comparing said relative response time (T) with said minimum (min_n T⁻

_n) of said corresponding response times.

10. Method as claimed in claim 9, characterised in that it provides for determining a functionality index of said CDN starting from the deviation between said relative response time (T) and said minimum (min_n T⁻

_n) of said corresponding response times.

11. System for implementing the method as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that it comprises:

an element (CPI) for making available said fictitious contents (φ

), φ

(i), φ

n), to said surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3) and

at least an agent element in offset position within the CDN to verify the availability of said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n) at the level of said surrogate sites (POP1, POP2, POP3).

12. System as claimed in claim 11, characterised in that said element (CPI) for making available said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n) is configured as Content Provider of said CDN, so that said fictitious contents (φ

, φ

(i), φ

n) are conveyed by said CDN in transparent fashion with respect to the operation of the CDN.

13. System as claimed in claim 11, characterised in that it further comprises a centralised management element (MC) for processing data delivered by said at least an agent element in offset position and in that said at least one agent element in offset position and said centralised element (MC) are configured according to an agent-manager architecture.

14. Computer product able to be loaded directly into the internal memory of a digital computer and comprising portions of software code for implementing the method as claimed in claim 1 when said product is made to run on a computer.