Content delivery and global traffic management network system

• US 7,194,522 B1
• Filed: 06/21/2004
• Issued: 03/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Gupta, Ajit K., Swildens, Eric Sven-Johan, Day, Richard David
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): NEURAUTER, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US10/873,570
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/225, 370/229, 370/390, 711/163, 718/105
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5016 Session
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5029 Service quality level-based billing, e.g. dependent on measured service level customer is charged more or less
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5064 Customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5083 wherein the managed service relates to web hosting
• 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 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4541 Directories for service discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1006 with static server selection, e.g. the same server being selected for a specific client
• 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 67/1021 : based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1027 : Persistence of sessions during load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 : Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1038 : Load balancing arrangements to avoid a single path through a load balancer
• 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 67/142 : Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 : Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 : Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 : Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• 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]

Abstract

A content delivery and global traffic management network system provides a plurality of caching servers connected to a network. The caching servers host customer content that can be cached and stored, and respond to requests for Web content from clients. If the requested content does not exist in memory or on disk, it generates a request to an origin site to obtain the content. A DNS Server (SPD) load balances network requests among customer Web servers and directs client requests for hosted customer content to the appropriate caching server which is selected by choosing the caching server that is closest to the user, is available, and is the least loaded. SPD also supports persistence and returns the same IP addresses, for a given client. The entire Internet address space is broken up into multiple zones. Each zone is assigned to a group of SPD servers. If an SPD server gets a request from a client that is not in the zone assigned to that SPD server, it forwards the request to the SPD server assigned to that zone. Servers write information about the content delivered to log files that are picked up by a log server.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

hosting customer content that can be cached and stored on a plurality of caching servers connected to a network;

wherein the caching servers respond to client requests for the hosted customer content;

wherein customer Web servers serve Web pages containing links to a caching domain for hosted customer content;

wherein the customer Web servers serve dynamic customer content that includes any of;

search engines, auctions, or shopping carts;

wherein a traffic management means directs a client request for hosted customer content for a particular caching domain to an appropriate caching server by resolving a user client domain name resolution request to the appropriate caching server'"'"'s address and returning the appropriate caching server'"'"'s address to the client'"'"'s local domain name server; and

wherein the hosted customer content is static customer content that includes any of;

images, video, text, or software.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the traffic management means dynamically selects the appropriate caching server from the plurality of caching servers based on current states of caching servers in the plurality of caching servers.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the current states include information from any combination of:

a configuration table, server load information, and network latency information.

4. A system, comprising:

a plurality of caching servers connected to a network;

wherein the caching servers host customer content that can be cached and stored;

wherein the caching servers respond to client requests for the hosted customer content;

wherein customer Web servers serve Web pages containing links to a caching domain for hosted customer content;

wherein the customer Web servers serve dynamic customer content that includes any of;

search engines, auctions or shopping carts;

wherein a traffic management means directs a client request for hosted customer content for a particular caching domain to an appropriate caching server by resolving a user client domain name resolution request to the appropriate caching server'"'"'s address and returning the appropriate caching server'"'"'s address to the client'"'"'s local domain name server; and

wherein the hosted customer content is static customer content that includes any of;

images, video, text or software.

5. A system as recited in claim 4, wherein the traffic management means dynamically selects the appropriate caching server from the plurality of caching servers based on current states of caching servers in the plurality of caching servers.

6. A system as recited in claim 5, wherein the current states include information from any combination of:

a configuration table, server load information, and network latency information.

7. In a distributed network wherein mirrored customer servers serve pages that include links associated with cacheable content or links from which requests for dynamic content can be initiated, and wherein a service provider entity provides a plurality of caching servers that selectively receive and store the cacheable content on behalf of service provider entity customers, the improvement comprising:

providing a traffic manager that is responsive to DNS queries from end user local name servers;

wherein the traffic manager is operative to both (i) direct an end user client request associated with given cacheable content to a preferred caching server for handling by the preferred caching server or to (ii) direct an end user client request associated with given dynamic content to a preferred customer server for handling by the preferred customer server; and

wherein the traffic manager identifies the preferred caching server or the preferred customer server, as the case may be, at the time it receives a DNS query and based on information selected from one of;

a configuration file, server load information, network latency information, or a combination thereof.

8. In the distributed network as described in claim 7, wherein the cacheable content is one of:

Web content, streaming media, or executable files.

9. In the distributed network as described in claim 7, wherein the dynamic content is generated by one of:

a search engine or a database lookup.

10. In the distributed network as described in claim 7, wherein the cacheable content is associated with a service provider domain.