Patent ID: 8639748
Filing Date: 2014-01-28
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. For a content delivery network (CDN) comprising (i) a plurality of distributed caching servers and (ii) a domain name system (DNS) service comprising a DNS resolution table for resolving end user content requests across the plurality of distributed caching servers, a method for determining a caching server from the plurality of caching servers to optimally distribute content to a particular end user machine, the method comprising: configuring the DNS resolution table at the DNS service with an entry that identifies a first caching server of the plurality of caching servers as optimal for responding to requests that originate from the particular end user machine; resolving a request for content that is received from the particular end user machine to the first caching server based on the DNS resolution table; providing downloadable content from the first caching server to the particular end user machine in response to a content request from the particular end user machine that is resolved by the DNS service using the DNS resolution table, said downloadable content comprising a monitoring tool which when processed by the particular end user machine causes the particular end user machine to download a common downloadable object from each caching server of a set of the plurality of caching servers; receiving from the particular end user machine, performance metrics that are derived from downloading the common downloadable object from each caching server of the set of caching servers; determining a second caching server from the plurality of caching servers that distributes content to the particular end user machine more optimally than the first caching server based on analysis of the received performance metrics and providing the requested content from the second caching server; and modifying the DNS resolution table by modifying the entry to identify the second caching server instead of the first caching server as the optimal caching server for responding to a future request for downloadable content at the CDN from the particular end user machine.