Optimized network resource location

• US 8,281,035 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2006
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Farber, David A., Greer, Richard E., Balter, James A., Swart, Andrew D.
• Primary Examiner(s): BLAIR, DOUGLAS B
• Application Number:
  US11/441,253
• Publication Number:
  US 20060218265A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,321 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/226
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/301 Name conversion
• 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 67/10015 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 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1019 Random or heuristic server selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1025 : Dynamic adaptation of the criteria on which the server selection is based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1036 : Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers
• 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 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 : Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• 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 67/561 : Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 : Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 : Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 : Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 : Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 : taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols

Abstract

A method for delivering resources in a distributed computing environment, wherein at least a first resource and a second resource are associated with a content provider, and wherein the first resource references the second resource via a first uniform resource locator (URL), the first URL having a first domain name that resolves to a server associated with a domain of the content provider. The second resource is associated with a domain name that resolves to a content delivery network (CDN) formed by a plurality of repeater servers. The domain of the CDN may be distinct from the domain of the content provider. Responsive to a request that causes the first resource to be served to a client from an origin server associated with the content provider'"'"'s domain, the second domain name in the second URL is resolved to identify a repeater server in the CDN'"'"'s domain from which to serve the second resource to the client. If a copy of the second resource is already replicated on the identified repeater server, then the copy of the second resource is served to the client from the identified repeater server; otherwise, the second resource is replicated on the identified repeater server and the copy of the second resource is served to the client from the identified repeater server.

Claims

1. A method for delivering resources in a distributed computing environment, wherein at least a first resource and a second resource are associated with a content provider, and wherein the first resource references the second resource via a first uniform resource locator (URL), the first URL identifying a first domain associated with the content provider, the method comprising:

(A) responsive to a request that causes a first resource to be served to a client from an origin server associated with a first domain, modifying the first resource by replacing the first URL with a second URL comprising data prepended to at least a portion of the first URL, wherein at least a portion of the data is resolvable to identify at least one repeater server in a second domain associated with a content delivery network (CDN) formed by a plurality of repeater servers, wherein at least two of said repeater servers in the CDN are at distinct locations from each other, the origin server being distinct from the repeater servers, resolving the at least a portion of the data in the second URL and identifying at least one repeater server in the CDN from which to serve the second resource to the client, wherein the identified repeater server comprises at least one cache storage device distinct from the origin server; and

(B) responsive to the identified repeater server being requested to serve the second resource;

(b1) if a copy of the second resource is already replicated on the at least one cache storage device of the identified repeater server, then serving the copy of the second resource to the client from the at least one cache storage device by the identified repeater server;

otherwise,

(b2) if a copy of the second resource is not available on the at least one cache storage device of the identified repeater server, replicating the second resource on the at least one cache storage device of the identified repeater server and then serving the copy of the second resource to the client from the at least one cache storage device by the identified repeater server.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the replicating step comprises:

at the identified repeater server, obtaining a copy of the second resource from another repeater server in the CDN.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the replicating step comprises:

at the identified repeater server, obtaining a copy of the second resource from an origin server associated with the content provider.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first URL comprises a first domain name identifying the first domain, the second URL being formed, at least in part, by prepending the data to at least a portion of the first domain name to form a second domain name, said second domain name being for the second domain.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first resource references the second resource at least by way of a textual reference embedded in the first resource, wherein the first resource was modified by inserting the data into the textual reference.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

responsive to the request, transmitting to the client an HTTP REDIRECT command comprising the second URL.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first resource is a web page.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the second resource is an embedded object in the web page.

9. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the second resource is a resource selected from the group comprising static and dynamic:

video content, audio content, text, image content, web pages, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) files, XML files, files in a markup language, documents, hypertext documents, data files, and embedded resources.

10. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the web page is selected from the group comprising:

an Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) file, an XML file, a file in a markup language, and a hypertext document.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the identified repeater server is identified by an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data comprise at least an alphanumeric string of characters.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the step of resolving comprises:

resolving at least a portion of the alphanumeric string to identify the repeater server in the CDN from which to serve the second resource to the client.

14. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein at least some of the string of characters represent a hostname distinct from the first domain name.

15. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein at least some of the string of characters represent a fully qualified domain name.

16. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the origin server is at a distinct network location from the repeater servers in the CDN.

17. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the replicating act (b2) uses at least the portion of the first URL to retrieve the second resource from the origin server associated with said first domain.

18. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

logging, by the identified repeater server, information related to at least some resources served therefrom on behalf of said content provider, wherein said at least some resources includes the second resource.

19. A method as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

logging, by at least some of the other repeater servers in the CDN, information related to at least some resources served therefrom on behalf of said content provider, wherein said at least some resources includes the second resource; and

merging information logged by the identified repeater server with information logged by each of the other repeater servers in the CDN to form merged information.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

providing the merged information to said content provider.

21. An Internet content delivery method for delivering resources on behalf of content providers to clients via a shared content delivery network (CDN) formed by a plurality of repeater servers, wherein at least two of said repeater servers in said CDN are at distinct locations from each other, the resources including web pages and at least some of the web pages including references to other resources, and wherein a first web page located on an origin server associated with a first content provider includes at least a first reference to a first resource, the origin server being a server at which resources originate, the method comprising:

(A) providing the plurality of repeater servers, wherein the shared CDN comprises at least a first domain distinct from a second domain of the origin server, wherein client requests to the first domain resolve to at least one of the plurality of repeater servers;

(B) responsive to a request that causes a first web page to be served to a client from an origin server associated with the first content provider, modifying the first web page by replacing the first reference with a second reference associated with the first domain and resolvable to identify at least one of the plurality of repeater servers as an appropriate repeater server to serve the first resource;

(C) responsive to the appropriate repeater server in the shared CDN being requested to serve the first resource;

(c1) if a copy of the first resource is not already replicated on at least one cache storage device of the appropriate repeater server, wherein the at least one cache storage device is distinct from the origin server, then (i) retrieving a copy of the first resource from the origin server and storing the retrieved copy on the at least one cache storage device; and

(ii) serving the retrieved copy of the first resource to the requesting client from the at least one cache storage device by the appropriate repeater server;

otherwise,

(c2) if a copy of the first resource is already replicated on the at least one cache storage device of the appropriate repeater server, then serving the copy of the first resource to the requesting client from the at least one cache storage device by the appropriate repeater server,

wherein the appropriate repeater server is a repeater server from the plurality of repeater servers that was selected based at least in part on some measure of network cost.

22. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the first web page is served to the client from the origin server.

23. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the first reference to the first resource comprises a first uniform resource locator (URL) including a first hostname identifying the domain of the origin server, wherein the modifying act further comprises:

modifying the first URL to form the second reference by prepending data to at least a portion of the first URL, the second reference having a second hostname at least partially distinct from the first hostname, wherein the second hostname resolves to at least one of the plurality of repeater servers.

24. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the web page is selected from the group comprising:

an Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) file, an XML file, a file in a markup language, and a hypertext document, and

the first resource is a resource selected from the group comprising static and dynamic;

video content, audio content, text, image content, web pages, HTML files, XML files, files in a markup language, documents, hypertext documents, data files, and embedded resources.

25. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein step (B) further comprises:

selecting the appropriate repeater using, at least in part, an analysis of network distance between the client and the plurality of repeater servers.

26. A method as recited in claim 25, wherein the selecting step comprises:

a step for determining and using a Group Reduction Tables and a Link Cost Tables to identify the appropriate repeater.

27. A content delivery system as recited in claim 21 wherein the measure of network cost is determined, at least in part, using a netmap determination means.

28. A method as recited in claim 21 wherein the origin server is at a distinct network location from the repeater servers in the CDN.

29. A method as recited in claim 21, further comprising:

logging, by the appropriate repeater server, information related to at least some resources served therefrom on behalf of said first content provider, wherein said at least some resources includes the first resource.

30. A method as recited in claim 29, further comprising:

logging, by at least some other repeater servers in the CDN, information related to at least some resources served therefrom on behalf of said first content provider, wherein said at least some resources includes the first resource; and

merging information logged by the appropriate repeater server with information logged by at least some of the other repeater servers in the CDN to generate merged information; and

providing the merged information to said content provider.

31. A method for delivering resources in a distributed computing environment on behalf of content providers to clients via a shared content delivery network (CDN) of servers, at least some of said servers in said CDN being at distinct locations from each other, wherein at least a first resource is associated with a first content provider, and wherein the first resource references a second resource via a uniform resource locator (URL) in said first resource, the URL including a first hostname, the method comprising:

(A) responsive to a request that causes the first resource to be served to a client from an origin server in a domain associated with the first content provider, wherein the domain associated with the first content provider is distinct from a domain of the shared CDN, providing at least a second hostname that is at least partially distinct from the first hostname, resolving at least the second hostname, and identifying a server in the domain of the shared CDN, wherein the identified CDN server comprises at least one cache storage device distinct from the origin server; and

(B) responsive to the identified CDN server being requested to serve the second resource;

(b2) if a copy of the second resource is already replicated on the at least one cache storage device of the identified CDN server, then serving the copy of the second resource to the client from the at least one cache storage device by the identified CDN server;

otherwise,

(b2) if a copy of the second resource is not available on the at least one cache storage device of the identified CDN server, then (i) replicating the second resource on the at least one cache storage device of the identified CDN server, and (ii) serving the copy of the second resource to the client from the at least one cache storage device by the identified CDN server, wherein the replicating step (i) comprises;

obtaining a copy of the second resource from another server in the CDN.

32. A method as recited in claim 31, wherein the method further comprises:

modifying at least a portion of said first hostname to create the second hostname.

33. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein the first resource is a web page in a markup language and wherein the second resource is a resource selected from the group comprising static and dynamic:

video content, audio content, text, image content, web pages, HTML files, XML files, files in a markup language, documents, hypertext documents, data files, and embedded resources.

34. A method as recited in claim 31, wherein the replicating act (b2) comprises:

using at least the first hostname to retrieve the second resource from the origin server in the domain associated with said first content provider.

35. A method as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

logging, by the identified CDN server, information related to at least some resources served therefrom on behalf of said first content provider, wherein said at least some resources includes the second resource.

36. A method as recited in claim 35, further comprising:

logging, by at least some other repeater servers in the CDN, information related to at least some resources served therefrom on behalf of said first content provider, wherein said at least some resources include the second resource; and

merging information logged by the identified CDN server with information logged by the other repeater servers in the CDN to form merged information; and

providing the merged information to said content provider.