Collector mechanisms in a content delivery network

• US 9,660,876 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2014
• Issued: 05/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sandpiper CDN, LLC (Theseus LF Asset Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lipstone, Laurence R., Crowder, William, Swart, Andrew, Newton, Christopher, Varney, Lewis Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): HUQ, FARZANA B
• Application Number:
  US14/303,314
• Publication Number:
  US 20140337461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,076 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-207, 709224-225, 709248, 709246
• 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

A computer-implemented method operable in a content delivery service (CDN), includes, by a collector system: receiving multiple event streams of event data, said multiple event streams comprising event data from a plurality of CD services in said CDN, each event of said event streams comprising: (i) a timestamp for said event, (ii) information relating to said event; and producing state data relating to information represented in said event data of said multiple event streams while being able to asynchronously respond to queries relating to said state data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method in a content delivery (CD) network (CDN), said CDN comprising multiple CD services, said method operable on at least one device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, the method comprising:

by a collector system;

(A) receiving multiple event streams of event data, said multiple event streams comprising event data from a plurality of CD services in said CDN, said plurality of CD services including a first CD service, each event of said event streams comprising;

(i) a timestamp for said event, (ii) information relating to said event;

(B) producing state data relating to and based on information represented in said event data of said multiple event streams, wherein, while said collector system is producing said state data, said collector system asynchronously responds to at least one query relating to said state data; and

(C) in response to a query from said first CD service, said query relating to said state data, providing at least some of said state data to said first CD service, wherein said state data are used to inform a peering policy of a set of peer caches.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the event data from a particular CD service of said plurality of CD services relates to an action having been performed by or on behalf of said particular CD service.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said action was performed by said particular CD service in response to information received by said particular CD service from another CD service.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the other CD service is a CD service of a different type.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of said plurality of CD services are of a first CD service type and wherein at least some of said plurality of CD services are of a second CD service type distinct from said first CD service type.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first CD service type is selected from:

collector services, reducer services, delivery services, control services, rendezvous services, and configuration services; and

the second CD service type is selected from;

collector services, reducer services, delivery services, control services, rendezvous services, and configuration services.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said collector system is used to track where resources are cached from among a set of caches.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said collector determines popular resources over an amount of time.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said collector determines events indicating the availability of entities at a time.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the entity is selected from:

a machine, a service, a VIP.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the collector tracks one or more of:

popularity, cacheability, and size of at least one resource.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the collector is used to determine billing information.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the collector is used to determine load information per entity.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said load information relates to one or more of:

resource utilization, request rate, and bandwidth.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the entity is selected from:

a machine, a VIP, a cluster, and a service.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the collector is used to determine a per-property traffic summary.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said traffic summary is used in dynamic binding decisions and determination of optimal property mixes and cluster topologies.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the collector is used to determine fill-bandwidth per origin.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said fill-bandwidth per origin is used for flash crowd protection.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the collector is used to determine denial of service attacks.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the collector is used to determine fault-prone machine detection and fault prediction.

22. A device operable in a content delivery (CD) network (CDN), said CDN comprising multiple CD services, said device comprising:

(a) hardware including memory and at least one processor, and

(b) a collector service running on said hardware, wherein said collector service is configured to;

(A) receive multiple event streams of event data, said multiple event streams comprising event data from a plurality of CD services in said CDN, said plurality of CD services including a first CD service, each event of said event streams comprising;

(i) a timestamp for said event, (ii) information relating to said event; and

(B) produce state data relating to and based on information represented in said event data of said multiple event streams, wherein, while said collector system produces said state data, said collector system asynchronously responds to at least one relating to said state data; and

(C) in response to a query from said first CD service, said query relating to said state data, provide at least some of said state data to said first CD service, wherein said state data are used to inform a peering policy of a set of peer caches.

23. An article of manufacture, comprising non-transitory computer-readable media having computer readable instructions stored thereon, the computer readable instructions including instructions for implementing a computer-implemented method, said method operable on a device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor and running a service on said hardware, said method operable in a content delivery (CD) network (CDN), said CDN comprising multiple CD services, said method comprising:

by a collector system;

(A) receiving multiple event streams of event data, said multiple event streams comprising event data from a plurality of CD services in said CDN, said plurality of CD services including a first CD service, each event of said event streams comprising;

(i) a timestamp for said event, (ii) information relating to said event; and

(B) producing state data relating to and based on information represented in said event data of said multiple event streams, wherein, while said collector system is producing said state data, said collector system asynchronously responds to at least one query relating to said state data; and

(C) in response to a query from said first CD service, said query relating to said state data, providing at least some of said state data to said first CD service, wherein said state data are used to inform a peering policy of a set of peer cache.