Optimal route selection in a content delivery network
First Claim
1. A method operative in a content delivery network having a set of server nodes organized into regions, wherein the server nodes provide delivery of content on behalf of participating content providers, wherein a server node comprises a cluster of content delivery network edge servers, the method comprising:
- for each given server node and a content provider origin server, identifying at least one alternate path to be used for edge server-to-content provider origin server communications, the at least one alternate path includes at least one other content delivery network edge server that is external to the given server node;
upon receipt at a particular edge server in the given server node of a request for an object that is not available for delivery from the particular edge server, issuing a new request for the object from the particular edge server over the at least one alternate path;
receiving the object over the at least one alternate path; and
serving the object in response to the request.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A routing mechanism, service or system operable in a distributed networking environment. One preferred environment is a content delivery network (CDN) wherein the present invention provides improved connectivity back to an origin server, especially for HTTP traffic. In a CDN, edge servers are typically organized into regions, with each region comprising a set of content servers that preferably operate in a peer-to-peer manner and share data across a common backbone such as a local area network (LAN). The inventive routing technique enables an edge server operating within a given CDN region to retrieve content (cacheable, non-cacheable and the like) from an origin server more efficiently by selectively routing through the CDN'"'"'s own nodes, thereby avoiding network congestion and hot spots. The invention enables an edge server to fetch content from an origin server through an intermediate CDN server or, more generally, enables an edge server within a given first region to fetch content from the origin server through an intermediate CDN region.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method operative in a content delivery network having a set of server nodes organized into regions, wherein the server nodes provide delivery of content on behalf of participating content providers, wherein a server node comprises a cluster of content delivery network edge servers, the method comprising:
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for each given server node and a content provider origin server, identifying at least one alternate path to be used for edge server-to-content provider origin server communications, the at least one alternate path includes at least one other content delivery network edge server that is external to the given server node; upon receipt at a particular edge server in the given server node of a request for an object that is not available for delivery from the particular edge server, issuing a new request for the object from the particular edge server over the at least one alternate path; receiving the object over the at least one alternate path; and serving the object in response to the request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification