LOAD BALANCING SERVICE

• US 20080163064A1
• Filed: 03/17/2008
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ajit Gupta, Eric Sven-Johan Swildens, Richard David Day
• Original Assignee: Ajit Gupta, Eric Sven-Johan Swildens, Richard David Day
• Inventors: Gupta, Ajit K., Swildens, Eric Sven-Johan, Day, Richard David
• Application Number:
  US12/050,047
• Publication Number:
  US 20080163064A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/736
• 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 67/1008 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

Abstract

A load balancing service for a plurality of customers performs load balancing among a plurality of customer Web servers. Requests for Web content are load balanced across the customer Web servers. The load balancing service provider charges a fee to the customers for the load balancing service. A caching service is also provided that comprises a plurality of caching servers connected to a network. The caching servers host customer content that can be cached and stored, e.g., images, video, text, and/or software. The caching servers respond to requests for Web content from clients. The load balancing service provider charges a fee to the customers for the Web caching service

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

allowing a customer to add at least one of the customer'"'"'s Web servers to a plurality of customer Web servers that a content delivery service performs a customer Web server load balancing service upon, the content delivery service providing a Web caching service for content offloaded to the content delivery service from customer Web servers; and

displaying traffic performance data for at least one specified domain name being handled by the content delivery service to a customer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Web caching service includes a plurality of caching servers, and wherein the plurality of caching servers store cacheable customer content.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the content delivery service performs load balancing among a plurality of caching servers for user requests for cacheable content.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the cacheable content includes any of:

movies, audio, images, text, plug-in program data, programs, streaming audio data, and video data.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the content delivery service selects an appropriate caching server to serve a user content request using service metric measurements of caching servers that serve the requested content and selects the appropriate caching server with a service metric measurement that offers more appropriate performance for the user request than other caching servers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wherein the content delivery service provider charges a fee to its customers for use of the content delivery service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content delivery service selects an appropriate customer Web server to serve a user content request using traffic load measurements of customer Web servers that serve the requested content and selects the appropriate customer Web server with a traffic load measurement that offers more appropriate performance for the user request than other customer Web servers.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a user interface that allows a customer to add at least one of the customer'"'"'s Web servers to a plurality of customer Web servers that a content delivery service performs a customer Web server load balancing service upon, the content delivery service providing a Web caching service for content offloaded to the content delivery service from customer Web servers; and

wherein the user interface displays traffic performance data for at least one specified domain name being handled by the content delivery service to a customer.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the Web caching service includes a plurality of caching servers, and wherein the plurality of caching servers store cacheable customer content.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the content delivery service performs load balancing among a plurality of caching servers for user requests for cacheable content.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the cacheable content includes any of:

movies, audio, images, text, plug-in program data, programs, streaming audio data, and video data.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the content delivery service selects an appropriate caching server to serve a user content request using service metric measurements of caching servers that serve the requested content and selects the appropriate caching server with a service metric measurement that offers more appropriate performance for the user request than other caching servers.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the wherein the content delivery service provider charges a fee to its customers for use of the content delivery service.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the content delivery service selects an appropriate customer Web server to serve a user content request using traffic load measurements of customer Web servers that serve the requested content and selects the appropriate customer Web server with a traffic load measurement that offers more appropriate performance for the user request than other customer Web servers.

15. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

allowing a customer to add at least one of the customer'"'"'s Web servers to a plurality of customer Web servers that a content delivery service performs a customer Web server load balancing service upon, the content delivery service providing a Web caching service for content offloaded to the content delivery service from customer Web servers; and

displaying traffic performance data for at least one specified domain name being handled by the content delivery service to a customer.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the Web caching service includes a plurality of caching servers, and wherein the plurality of caching servers store cacheable customer content.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the content delivery service performs load balancing among a plurality of caching servers for user requests for cacheable content.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the cacheable content includes any of:

movies, audio, images, text, plug-in program data, programs, streaming audio data, and video data.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the content delivery service selects an appropriate caching server to serve a user content request using service metric measurements of caching servers that serve the requested content and selects the appropriate caching server with a service metric measurement that offers more appropriate performance for the user request than other caching servers.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the wherein the content delivery service provider charges a fee to its customers for use of the content delivery service.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the content delivery service selects an appropriate customer Web server to serve a user content request using traffic load measurements of customer Web servers that serve the requested content and selects the appropriate customer Web server with a traffic load measurement that offers more appropriate performance for the user request than other customer Web servers.