Configuring a content delivery network (CDN)

• US 9,647,901 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Newton, Christopher, Varney, Lewis Robert, Lipstone, Laurence R., Crowder, William, Swart, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US13/841,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20140173067A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,516 Days
• Field of Search: 709202, 709219, 709228, 709209, 709206, 709238, 709221, 709240
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0808 with cache invalidating means G06F12/0815 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/177 Initialisation or configuration control processor initialisation G06F9/4405
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service
• 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 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/10 of different types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 : Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 : using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4535 : using an address exchange platform which sets up a session between two nodes, e.g. rendezvous servers, session initiation protocols [SIP] registrars or H.323 gatekeepers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/58 : Caching of addresses or names
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 : Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 : Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 : specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1078 : Resource delivery mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 : Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• 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 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 : Push-based network services
• 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 67/60 : Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/03 : Protocol definition or specification protocol conformance testing H04L1/244

Abstract

In a content delivery network (CDN a method includes: receiving a request for a CDN service of a particular type, wherein a CDN service of said particular type defines a fixed number of configurable layers of request processing, sequentially from a first layer to a last layer; and processing said request, starting at said first layer, said processing being based on a modifiable runtime environment, said processing continuing conditionally through each of said layers in turn until either said request is terminated by one of said layers or said last layer processes said request. A layer may cause some of the processing of a request to be handled by another service. The CDN service may be selected from: delivery services, collector services, reducer services, rendezvous services, configuration services, and control services.

Claims

1. A content delivery (CD) system comprising a plurality of devices, each device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, each device configured to run at least one CD service of a plurality of CD services;

and wherein

at least some of said CD services;

produce event output relating to their respective operation, wherein at least some of said event output from at least some of said CD services is provided to at least some of said CD services as event input,

obtain event input from one or more CD services,

produce, as their respective state output, state information, said state information being based on said event input from said one or more CD services,

maintain configuration information specifying assignments of devices to clusters,

obtain state information from said CD services, and

modify said configuration information to produce modified configuration information based at least on said state information.

2. The CD system of claim 1 wherein said modified configuration information is usable for causing a sub-cluster to be added to a super-cluster, wherein each sub-cluster comprises one or more devices and each super-cluster comprises two or more sub-clusters.

3. The CD system of claim 2 wherein modifying said configuration information is based at least on a determination that said super-cluster should have more capacity for processing of requests.

4. The CD system of claim 2 wherein devices in said at least one other sub-cluster added to said super-cluster are configured to be peers with devices in said super-cluster.

5. The CD system of claim 4 wherein devices in said at least one other sub-cluster added to said super-cluster are configured to share a heartbeat signal with devices in said super-cluster, said heartbeat signal providing devices in said super-cluster an indication of a state of other devices in said super-cluster.

6. The CD system of claim 1 wherein said assignments of devices to clusters comprises assignments of a first set of sub-clusters to a super-cluster, wherein each sub-cluster comprises one or more devices and each super-cluster comprises two or more sub-clusters.

7. The CD system of claim 6 wherein said modified configuration information specifies modified assignments of devices to clusters comprising assignments of a second set of sub-clusters to said super-cluster, and wherein said first set of sub-clusters comprises different devices than said second set of sub-clusters.

8. The CD system of claim 1 wherein said event output and said state information comprise at least one of load information and health information of said one or more CD services.

9. The CD system of claim 1 wherein modifying said configuration information is based at least one of load information of said one or more CD services, health information of said one or more CD services, and operator-provided configuration information.

10. The CD system of claim 1 wherein said CD services comprise reducer services, and wherein at least some of said event output from at least some of said CD services is provided to at least some of said reducer services as event input, and wherein

at least some of said reducer services:

determine at least some of their respective reducer output based on event input from CD services, and

provide their respective reducer output to at least some CD services.

11. The CD system of claim 1 wherein said CD services comprise collector services, and wherein

at least some of said collector services:

obtain event input from one or more CD services,

produce, as their respective state output, state information, said state information being based on said event input from said one or more CD services, and

provide at least some of said state information to CD services to control operation or configuration of said CD services.

12. The CD system of claim 1 wherein said CD services comprise control services, and wherein

at least some of said control services:

produce control information based on said state information, wherein at least some of said control information is indicative of said modified customer configuration information, and

provide at least some of said control information to said CD services to control operation or configuration of said CD services, wherein at least some of said control information to control operation or configuration of said CD services was determined using specific event information produced by one or more CD services.

13. A device, operable in a content delivery (CD) system comprising a plurality of computers, each computer comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, each computer configured to run at least one CD service of a plurality of CD services, said device comprising:

hardware including memory and at least one processor,

at least some of said CD services, wherein at least some of said CD services are configured to;

produce event output relating to their respective operation, wherein at least some of said event output from at least some of said CD services is provided to at least some of said CD services as event input,

obtain event input from one or more CD services,

produce, as their respective state output, state information, said state information being based on said event input from said one or more CD services,

maintain configuration information specifying assignments of devices to clusters,

obtain state information from said CD services, and

modify said configuration information to produce modified configuration information based at least on said state information.

14. The device of claim 13 wherein said modified configuration information is usable for causing a sub-cluster to be added to a super-cluster, wherein each sub-cluster comprises one or more devices and each super-cluster comprises two or more sub-clusters.

15. The device of claim 14 wherein modifying said configuration information is based at least on a determination that said super-cluster should have more capacity for processing of requests.

16. The device of claim 14 wherein devices in said at least one other sub-cluster added to said super-cluster are configured to be peers with devices in said super-cluster.

17. The device of claim 16 wherein devices in said at least one other sub-cluster added to said super-cluster are configured to share a heartbeat signal with devices in said super-cluster, said heartbeat signal providing devices in said super-cluster an indication of a state of other devices in said super-cluster.

18. The device of claim 13 wherein said assignments of devices to clusters comprises assignments of a first set of sub-clusters to a super-cluster, wherein each sub-cluster comprises one or more devices and each super-cluster comprises two or more sub-clusters.

19. The device of claim 18 wherein said modified configuration information specifies modified assignments of devices to clusters comprising assignments of a second set of sub-clusters to said super-cluster, and wherein said first set of sub-clusters comprises different devices than said second set of sub-clusters.

20. The device of claim 13 wherein said event output and said state information comprise at least one of load information and health information of said one or more CD services.

21. The device of claim 13 wherein modifying said configuration information is based at least one of load information of said one or more CD services, health information of said one or more CD services, and operator-provided configuration information.

22. The device of claim 13 wherein said CD services comprise reducer services, and wherein at least some of said event output from at least some of said CD services is provided to at least some of said reducer services as event input, and wherein

at least some of said reducer services are configured to:

determine at least some of their respective reducer output based on event input from CD services, and

provide their respective reducer output to at least some CD services.

23. The device of claim 13 wherein said CD services comprise collector services, and wherein

at least some of said collector services are configured to:

obtain event input from one or more CD services,

produce, as their respective state output, state information, said state information being based on said event input from said one or more CD services, and

provide at least some of said state information to CD services to control operation or configuration of said CD services.

24. The device of claim 13 wherein said CD services comprise control services, and wherein

at least some of said control services are configured to:

produce control information based on said state information, wherein at least some of said control information is indicative of said modified customer configuration information, and

provide at least some of said control information to said CD services to control operation or configuration of said CD services, wherein at least some of said control information to control operation or configuration of said CD services was determined using specific event information produced by one or more CD services.

25. A computer-implemented method, operable on a device in a content delivery (CD) system comprising a plurality of computers, each computer comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, each computer configured to run at least one CD service of a plurality of CD services, said method comprising:

by at least some of said CD services running on said computers;

producing event output relating to their respective operation, wherein at least some of said event output from at least some of said CD services is provided to at least some of said CD services as event input,

obtaining event input from one or more CD services,

producing, as their respective state output, state information, said state information being based on said event input from said one or more CD services,

maintaining configuration information specifying assignments of devices to clusters,

obtaining state information from said CD services, and

modifying said configuration information to produce modified configuration information based at least on said state information.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein

by at least some of said CD services:

causing a sub-cluster to be added to a super-cluster based on said modified configuration information, wherein each sub-cluster comprises one or more devices and each super-cluster comprises two or more sub-clusters.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 wherein modifying said configuration information is based at least on a determination that said super-cluster should have more capacity for processing of requests.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 wherein devices in said at least one other sub-cluster added to said super-cluster are configured to be peers with devices in said super-cluster.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 28 wherein devices in said at least one other sub-cluster added to said super-cluster are configured to share a heartbeat signal with devices in said super-cluster, said heartbeat signal providing devices in said super-cluster an indication of a state of other devices in said super-cluster.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein said assignments of devices to clusters comprises assignments of a first set of sub-clusters to a super-cluster, wherein each sub-cluster comprises one or more devices and each super-cluster comprises two or more sub-clusters.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 30 wherein said modified configuration information specifies modified assignments of devices to clusters comprising assignments of a second set of sub-clusters to said super-cluster, and wherein said first set of sub-clusters comprises different devices than said second set of sub-clusters.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein said event output and said state information comprise at least one of load information and health information of said one or more CD services.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein modifying said configuration information is based at least one of load information of said one or more CD services, health information of said one or more CD services, and operator-provided configuration information.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein said CD services comprise reducer services, and wherein at least some of said event output from at least some of said CD services is provided to at least some of said reducer services as event input, and wherein

by at least some of said reducer services:

determining at least some of their respective reducer output based on event input from CD services, and

providing their respective reducer output to at least some CD services.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein said CD services comprise collector services, and wherein

by at least some of said collector services:

obtaining event input from one or more CD services,

producing, as their respective state output, state information, said state information being based on said event input from said one or more CD services, and

providing at least some of said state information to CD services to control operation or configuration of said CD services.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein said CD services comprise control services, and wherein

by at least some of said control services:

producing control information based on said state information, wherein at least some of said control information is indicative of said modified customer configuration information, and

providing at least some of said control information to said CD services to control operation or configuration of said CD services, wherein at least some of said control information to control operation or configuration of said CD services was determined using specific event information produced by one or more CD services.