Multi-domain configuration handling in an edge network server

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10250667-B2
Application number	US-201715707493-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2017
Priority date	Nov 2, 2011
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

An Internet infrastructure delivery platform operated by a provider enables HTTP-based service to identified third parties at large scale. The platform provides this service to one or more cloud providers. The approach enables the CDN platform provider (the first party) to service third party traffic on behalf of the cloud provider (the second party). In operation, an edge server handling mechanism leverages DNS to determine if a request with an unknown host header should be serviced. Before serving a response, and assuming the host header includes an unrecognized name, the edge server resolves the host header and obtains an intermediate response, typically a list of aliases (e.g., DNS CNAMEs). The edge server checks the returned CNAME list to determine how to respond to the original request. Using just a single edge configuration, the CDN service provider can support instant provisioning of a cloud provider's identified third party traffic.

First claim

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A computer program product in a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer program instructions executable in one or more hardware processors, the computer program instructions comprising:
a network-accessible provisioning portal operated by a first party, the provisioning portal receiving data, the data having been entered by a second party customer of the first party to provision, for handling by the first party, a digital property that is associated with a set of third party domain names, the third party domain names being associated with one or more third party customers of the second party that are not customers of the first party;
one or more server processes operated by the first party, wherein a server process receives from the provisional portal a configuration file associated with the digital property; and
the server process being further configured to receive a request having a header associated therewith, the header including a value and, in response: determining whether the value in the header is recognized as a second party domain, performing a Domain Name System (DNS) query on the value when the value in the header is not recognized as a second party domain, receiving a Canonical Name (CNAME) chain in response to the DNS query, analyzing the CNAME chain to determine whether a predetermined pattern is recognized, the predetermined pattern being associated with the digital property, and using the predetermined pattern to attempt to locate the configuration file associated with the digital property when the predetermined pattern is recognized.

2. The computer program product as described in claim 1 wherein the server process is further configured to apply at least one content handling directive in the configuration file to a request for third party content.

3. The computer program product as described in claim 2 wherein the server process is further configured to deliver the third party content, wherein the delivery is associated with the second party.

4. The computer program product as described in claim 1 wherein the first party is a content delivery network (CDN) service provider, the second party is a service provider other than the CDN service provider, the content delivery network service provider providing the second party a handling function using the digital property as a service offering, the handling function enabling the second party to use delivery services provided by the first party while also enabling the first party to capture and account for data representing third party customer traffic delivered using the third party domain names.

5. The computer program product as described in claim 1 wherein the server process is further configured to cache the CNAME chain for re-use.

6. The computer program product as described in claim 1 wherein access to the provisioning portal is over a secure communication link.

7. The computer program instructions as described in claim 1 wherein the server process is further configured to determine whether the predetermined pattern includes a prefix value.

Assignees

• Akamai Tech Inc

Inventors

• Ludin Stephen L
• Laghate Prasanna
• Stevens Matthew J
• Shotton Frederick R
• Hatala Jozef

Classifications

• H04L67/02 Primary

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• H04L67/1008

  based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload (monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30) · CPC title

• H04L61/1511

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L61/4511 Primary

  using domain name system [DNS] · CPC title