Content node network address selection for content delivery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10097503-B2
Application number	US-201414483358-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 11, 2014
Priority date	Sep 27, 2013
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software that select network addresses of a content node of a content delivery network are provided herein. In one example, a method of operating a control node to perform network address selection that selects between different communication service providers according to network characteristics is presented. The control node receives a domain name lookup request from an end user device to reach a content node. The control node processes network characteristics and the domain name lookup request to select a network address that corresponds to one of the communication service providers. The end user device can use the selected network address to reach the content node over the selected communication service provider.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to enhance access to content cached on a content node from a content server, the content node being in a content delivery network, the method comprising:
receiving, at a secondary domain name system (DNS) server, a lookup request, associated with a request for the content, forwarded from a primary domain name system (DNS) server;
within the secondary domain name system (DNS) server:
assigning multiple network addresses to the content node;
defining each of a plurality of paths to the content delivery network in terms of an originating address range in a plurality of originating address ranges and one of the multiple network addresses assigned to the content node;
evaluating a relative performance of the plurality of paths to the content delivery network;
identifying the originating address range in the plurality of originating address ranges associated with the lookup request;
in response to the lookup request, selecting which of the multiple network addresses assigned to the content node to use based on the relative performance of a subset of the plurality of paths that are associated with the originating network address range of the lookup request;
replying to the lookup request with the selected network address that meets a performance threshold level;
within the content node:
receiving the request for content at the selected network address; and
responding to the request for content.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple network addresses associated with the content node are associated with a plurality of long haul Internet service providers that route to the content delivery network.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the originating address ranges are associated with one of a plurality of local Internet service providers that route to the content delivery network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multiple network addresses associated with the content node are Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the originating address range in the plurality of originating address ranges is an IP address range.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein evaluating a relative performance of the plurality of paths to the content delivery network requires measuring at least one of latency and transfer throughput information.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performance threshold level comprises at least one of: latency of the path; cost; buffer saturation; packet window not tuning; page swap; disk wait; packet loss; bottleneck; and congestion.

8. A method of accelerating access to content cached on a content node from a content server, the content node being in a content delivery network, the method comprising:
receiving, at a secondary domain name system (DNS) server, a lookup request forwarded from a primary domain name system (DNS) server;
within the secondary domain name system (DNS) server:
assigning multiple network addresses to the content node;
defining each of a plurality of paths to the content delivery network in terms of:
an originating address range associated with a local Internet service provider; and
one of the multiple network addresses associated with a plurality of long haul Internet service providers;

evaluating a relative performance of the plurality of paths to the content delivery system;
identifying the originating address range in the plurality of originating address ranges associated with a lookup request for the content;
in response to the lookup request, selecting which of the multiple network addresses assigned to the content node to use based on the relative performance of a subset of the plurality of paths that are associated with the originating network address range of the lookup request; and
replying to the lookup request with the selected network address that meets a performance threshold level;

within the content node:
receiving the request for content at the selected network address; and
responding to the request for content.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the performance threshold level comprises at least one of: latency of the path; cost; buffer saturation; packet window not tuning; page swap; disk wait; packet loss; bottleneck; and congestion.

10. A content delivery network, comprising:
one or more content nodes, comprising one or more processors, having multiple network addresses assigned to the content node, the content node configured to:
cache content from a content server;
receive requests for content using one or more associated network addresses;
transfer content to at least a requesting end user device having an originating address;
receive a domain name query associated with a lookup request for the content, the lookup request forwarded from a primary domain name system (DNS) server, the domain name query defining each of a plurality of paths to the content node in terms of an originating address range in a plurality of originating address ranges and one of the multiple network addresses assigned to the content node,
evaluate a relative performance of a plurality of paths to the content node,
identify the originating address range associated with the lookup request for the content,
in response to the lookup request, select a network address from the multiple network addresses assigned to the content node based on the relative performance of a subset of the plurality of paths that are associated with the originating network address range, and
reply to the domain name query with the selected network address that meets a performance threshold level.

11. The control node of claim 10 , wherein the multiple network addresses associated with the content node are associated with a plurality of long haul Internet service providers that route to the content node.

12. The control node of claim 11 , wherein the originating address ranges are associated with one of a plurality of local Internet service providers that route to the content node.

13. The control node of claim 10 , wherein the multiple network addresses associated with the content node are Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

14. The control node of claim 10 , wherein the originating address range in the plurality of originating address ranges is an IP address range.

15. The control node of claim 10 , wherein evaluating a relative performance of the plurality of paths to the content delivery network requires measuring at least one of latency and transfer throughput information.

16. The control node of claim 10 , wherein the performance threshold level comprises at least one of: latency of the path; cost; buffer saturation; packet window not tuning; page swap; disk wait; packet loss; bottleneck; and congestion.

17. A content delivery network, comprising:
one or more content nodes, comprising one or more processors, having multiple network addresses assigned to the content node, the content node configured to:
cache content from a content server;
receive requests for content using one or more associated network addresses;
transfer content to at least a requesting end user device having an originating address;
receive a domain name query associated with a lookup request for the content, the lookup request forwarded from a primary domain name system (DNS) server, the domain name query defining each of a plurality of paths to the content node in terms of an originating address range in a plurality of originating address ranges and one of the multiple network addresses assigned to the content node,
evaluate a relative performance of a plurality of paths to the content no

Assignees

• Fastly Inc

Inventors

• Bergman Artur

Classifications

• H04L43/0888

  Throughput · CPC title

• H04L61/1511 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L67/101 Primary

  based on network conditions · CPC title

• H04L67/2842

  Electricity · mapped topic