Control and communication infrastructure (CCI) for selecting a transport mechanism to transport data to one or more servers in a content delivery network based on the size of the data, together with frequency and loss tolerance with respect to transport of the data

• US 7,149,807 B1
• Filed: 02/01/2002
• Issued: 12/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kontothanassis, Leonidas
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar, Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Duong, Oanh
• Application Number:
  US10/061,983
• Time in Patent Office: 1,775 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/227, 709229-232, 709/224, 714/708, 719/328, 719/329
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4541 Directories for service discovery
• 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 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

A control and communication infrastructure (CCI) for use in a wide area network wherein a plurality of interconnected machines operate a plurality of different applications having varying data transport requirements. Machines within a wide area distributed network agree on a namespace of data objects so that all machines use the same name for a particular data object. Then, machines communicate with one another by publishing and subscribing to data objects in the namespace. The infrastructure selects an optimal transport mechanism from a set of available transport mechanisms based on the data being moved and its frequency and loss tolerance, and then hides the details of how the data is moved from the application using the infrastructure.

Claims

1. In a content delivery network having a plurality of machines that execute a set of applications having a plurality of data transport requirements, a control and communications infrastructure (CCI) embodied in one or more computer-readable storage media for use therein, comprising:

a set of underlying transport mechanisms including a reliable, point-to-point data mover, a reliable, scalable, multi-consumer data mover, and an unreliable, best effort packet mover;

an application programming interface (API) through which an application in the set of applications publishes or subscribes to a given data object, wherein the application publishes or subscribes to the given data object by identifying a name in a CCI namespace; and

a daemon that selects a given one of the set of underlying transport mechanisms to transport given data associated with the given data object to a set of one or more content servers in the content delivery network, wherein the daemon selects the given one of the set of underlying transport mechanisms by trading off size of the given data, together with frequency and loss tolerance with respect to the transport of the given data, wherein transport of the given data is carried out under control of the CCI without the application'"'"'s knowledge as to how the transport is accomplished.

2. The control and communications infrastructure for use in the content delivery network as described in claim 1 wherein the reliable, point-to-point data mover distributes the given data to the set of one or more servers in the content delivery network.

3. The control and communications infrastructure for use in the content delivery network as described in claim 1 wherein the reliable, scalable, multi-consumer data mover distributes the given data to the set or more servers in the content delivery network.

4. The control and communications infrastructure for use in the content delivery network as described in claim 1 wherein the unreliable, best effort packet mover distributes the given data to the set of one or more servers in the content delivery network.

5. The control and communications infrastructure for use in the content delivery network as described in claim 1 wherein the name of the given data object is a name that has been agreed upon by the set of applications.

6. The control and communications infrastructure for use in the content delivery network as described in claim 5 wherein the application publishes or subscribes to the given data object anonymously.

7. The control and communications infrastructure for use in the content delivery network as described in claim 1 wherein the namespace is a data structure shared by the set of applications.

8. The control and communications infrastructure for use in the content delivery network as described in claim 7 wherein the set of applications comprises a first application that is different from a second application.

9. A method for communicating data in a wide area network wherein a plurality of machines execute a plurality of applications having different data transport requirements, wherein the wide area network supports a set of available transport mechanisms, comprising:

isolating producers and consumers with respect to given data requiring transport in the wide area network, wherein the producers and consumers are isolated through an application programming interface (API) through which an application of the plurality of applications publishes or subscribes to a given data object in a namespace of a control and communication infrastructure (CCI);

selecting, by the CCI, a given one of the available transport mechanisms to use to transport the given data, wherein the selection is based on given characteristics of the given data, wherein the given characteristics include size of the given data, together with frequency and loss tolerance with respect to the transport of the given data; and

transporting the given data to a set of one or more servers in the wide area network using the given one of the available transport mechanisms selected by the CCI, wherein the given data is transported without the application'"'"'s knowledge as to how transport is accomplished;

wherein the available transport mechanisms comprise a reliable, point-to-point data mover, a reliable, scalable, multi-consumer data mover, and an unreliable, best effort packet mover.

10. The method as described in claim 9 wherein the wide area network is a content delivery network (CDN).

11. The method as described in claim 9 wherein the application publishes or subscribes to given data object anonymously.

12. The method as described in claim 9 further including establishing an agreed name for the given data object.

13. The method as described in claim 9 wherein at least first and second applications of the plurality of applications are heterogeneous.