Patent Publication Number: US-2022224767-A1

Title: Processing dns queries to identify pre-processing information

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/203,405, entitled “PROCESSING DNS QUERIES TO IDENTIFY PRE-PROCESSING INFORMATION” and filed on Nov. 28, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/800,540, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,225,362, entitled “PROCESSING DNS QUERIES TO IDENTIFY PRE-PROCESSING INFORMATION” and filed on Jul. 15, 2015, which in turn is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/493,839, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,154,551, entitled “PROCESSING DNS QUERIES TO IDENTIFY PRE-PROCESSING INFORMATION” and filed on Jun. 11, 2012, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Generally described, computing devices and communication networks can be utilized to exchange information. In a common application, a computing device can request content from another computing device via the communication network. For example, a user at a personal computing device can utilize a software browser application to request a Web page from a server computing device via the Internet. In such embodiments, the user computing device can be referred to as a client computing device and the server computing device can be referred to as a content provider. 
     Content providers are generally motivated to provide requested content to client computing devices often with consideration of efficient transmission of the requested content to the client computing device and/or consideration of a cost associated with the transmission of the content. For larger scale implementations, a content provider may receive content requests from a high volume of client computing devices which can place a strain on the content provider&#39;s computing resources. Additionally, the content requested by the client computing devices may have a number of components, which can further place additional strain on the content provider&#39;s computing resources. 
     With reference to an illustrative example, a requested Web page, or original content, may be associated with a number of additional resources, such as images or videos, which are to be displayed with the Web page. In one specific embodiment, the additional resources of the Web page are identified by a number of embedded resource identifiers, such as uniform resource locators (“URLs”). In turn, software on the client computing devices typically processes embedded resource identifiers to generate requests for the content. Often, the resource identifiers associated with the embedded resources reference a computing device associated with the content provider such that the client computing device would transmit the request for the additional resources to the referenced content provider computing device. Accordingly, in order to satisfy a content request, the content provider would provide client computing devices data associated with the Web page as well as the data associated with the embedded resources. 
     Some content providers attempt to facilitate the delivery of requested content, such as Web pages or resources identified in Web pages, through the utilization of a content delivery network (“CDN”) service provider. A CDN service provider typically maintains a number of computing devices in a communication network that can maintain content from various content providers. In turn, content providers can instruct, or otherwise suggest to, client computing devices to request some, or all, of the content provider&#39;s content from the CDN service provider&#39;s computing devices. 
     As with content providers, CDN service providers are also generally motivated to provide requested content to client computing devices often with consideration of efficient transmission of the requested content to the client computing device and/or consideration of a cost associated with the transmission of the content. Accordingly, CDN service providers often consider factors such as latency of delivery of requested content in order to meet service level agreements or to generally improve the quality of delivery service. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrative of content delivery environment including a number of client computing devices, a content provider, and a content delivery network (CDN) service provider; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of  FIG. 1  illustrating the registration of a content provider with a CDN service provider; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of  FIG. 1  illustrating the generation of resource requests by a client computing device to a content provider; 
         FIG. 4A  is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of  FIG. 1  illustrating the generation of DNS queries by a client computing device to a DNS server component; 
         FIG. 4B  is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of  FIG. 1  illustrating the implementation of pre-processing information by a DNS server component; 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of  FIG. 1  illustrating the generation of resource requests by a client computing device to a CDN service provider; 
         FIG. 6  is a flow diagram illustrative of a DNS query processing routine implemented by a DNS server component; and 
         FIG. 7  is a flow diagram illustrative of a subroutine for implementation of pre-processing actions based on a DNS query as provided in the flow diagram of  FIG. 6 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Generally described, the present disclosure is directed to processing of a domain name service (“DNS”) query from a client computing device by a DNS server component, such as one or more DNS server components provided by a content delivery network (“CDN”) service provider or by any other DNS service provider. Specifically, aspects of the disclosure will be described with regard to processing a DNS query to identify and implement pre-processing information by a DNS server component in anticipation of a corresponding resource request from a client computing device to a computing device identified by the DNS server component responsive to the DNS query. Illustratively, the pre-processing information can correspond to identification of content to be accelerated or other actions to be implemented by one or more computing devices in association with an anticipated content request. Based on identification of the content or future actions, a DNS server component can provide the pre-processing information to one or more computing devices, such as computing devices of a CDN service provider and/or an original content provider, in advance of a corresponding request for content from the client computing device in order to improve performance associated with responding to this request. 
     Although various aspects of the disclosure will be described with regard to illustrative examples and embodiments, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosed embodiments and examples should not be construed as limiting. For example, the present disclosure may be described with regard to request routing services provided by a service provider, such as a CDN service provider or DNS service provider, that may or may not provide additional services and functionality including network-based storage services, caching services, application hosting, or other services. Accordingly, use of the term “service provider” is not intended to be limited to any particular type of service provider, whether discussed or described in examples. Accordingly, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that a service provider need not provide all, or any, of the additional services or functionality that may be associated with some service providers, such as a CDN service provider. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrative of content delivery environment  100  for managing registration of a content provider with a service provider, such as a CDN service provider, and subsequent processing of at least a portion of content requests on behalf of the content provider. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the content delivery environment  100  includes a number of client computing devices  102  (generally referred to as clients) for requesting content from a content provider and/or a CDN service provider  106 . In an illustrative embodiment, the client computing devices  102  can correspond to a wide variety of computing devices including personal computing devices, laptop computing devices, hand-held computing devices, terminal computing devices, mobile devices, wireless devices, various electronic devices and appliances and the like. In an illustrative embodiment, the client computing devices  102  include necessary hardware and software components for establishing communications over a communication network  110 , such as a wide area network or local area network. For example, the client computing devices  102  may be equipped with networking equipment and browser software applications that facilitate communications via the Internet or an intranet. 
     Illustratively, at least some of the client computing devices  102  utilize a DNS resolver component  108 , such as a DNS name server, that receives DNS queries from a client computing device  102  and then generates the DNS queries attributed to the client computing device, or on behalf of the client computing device. In one embodiment, the DNS resolver component  108  may be a local DNS component provided by an enterprise network to which the client computing device  102  belongs. In another embodiment, the local DNS resolver component  108  may be provided by an Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) that provides the communication network connection to the client computing device  102 . In embodiments in which the client computing devices  102  utilize a DNS resolver component  108 , one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the DNS queries generated on behalf of the client computing devices would be associated with the IP address of the DNS resolver component  108  in accordance with traditional networking protocols. 
     The content delivery environment  100  can also include a content provider  104  in communication with the one or more client computing devices  102  via the communication network  110 . The content provider  104  illustrated in  FIG. 1  corresponds to a logical association of one or more computing devices associated with a content provider. Specifically, the content provider  104  can include a web server component  112  corresponding to one or more server computing devices for obtaining and processing requests for content (such as Web pages) from the client computing devices  102 . The content provider  104  can further include an origin server component  114  and associated storage component  116  corresponding to one or more computing devices for obtaining and processing requests for network resources. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the content provider  104  can be associated with various additional computing resources, such additional computing devices for administration of content and resources and the like. Additionally, although the origin server component  114  and associated storage component  116  are logically associated with the content provider  104 , the origin server component  114  and associated storage component  116  may be geographically distributed throughout the communication network  110  in a manner to best serve various demographics of client computing devices  102 . 
     Although not illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the content provider  104  can be associated with a number of additional or supplemental components to facilitate interaction with client computing devices  102  or service providers. For example, a content provider  104  may maintain one or more DNS name server components that are operative to receive DNS queries related to registered domain names associated with the content provider  104 . The one or more DNS name servers can be authoritative to resolve client computing device DNS queries corresponding to the registered domain names of the content provider  104 . The content provider  104  can also maintain additional storage components, such as proxy servers, or utilize network storage service providers to maintain at least a portion of the content/resources provided to the client computing devices  102 . 
     With continued reference to  FIG. 1 , the content delivery environment  100  can further include a service provider, generally referred to as the CDN service provider  106 , in communication with the one or more client computing devices  102  and the content provider  104  via the communication network  110 . The CDN service provider  106  illustrated in  FIG. 1  corresponds to a logical association of one or more computing devices associated with a service provider. Specifically, the CDN service provider  106  can include a number of Point of Presence (“POP”) locations  118 ,  124  that correspond to nodes on the communication network  110 . Each POP  118 ,  124  includes a DNS component  120 ,  126  made up of a number of DNS server computing devices for resolving DNS queries from the client computers  102 . Each POP  118 ,  124  also optionally includes a resource cache component  122 ,  128  made up of a number of cache server computing devices for storing resources from content providers or network storage providers and transmitting various requested resources to various client computers  102 . The DNS components  120 ,  126  and the resource cache components  122 ,  128  may further include additional software and/or hardware components that facilitate communications including, but not limited, load balancing or load sharing software/hardware components. 
     In an illustrative embodiment, the DNS component  120 ,  126  and resource cache component  122 ,  128  are considered to be logically grouped, regardless of whether the components, or portions of the components, are physically separate. Additionally, although the POPs  118 ,  124  are illustrated in  FIG. 1  as logically associated with the CDN service provider  106 , the POPs will be geographically distributed throughout the communication network  110  in a manner to best serve various demographics of client computing devices  102 . Additionally, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the CDN service provider  106  can be associated with various additional computing resources, such additional computing devices for administration of content and resources, and the like. Even further, the components of the CDN service provider  106  can be managed by the same or different entities. One skilled in the relevant art will also appreciate that the components and configurations provided in  FIG. 1  are illustrative in nature. Accordingly, additional or alternative components and/or configurations, especially regarding the additional components, systems, and subsystems for facilitating communications may be utilized. 
     With continued reference to  FIG. 1 , the content delivery environment  100  can further include another service provider, generally referred to as a DNS service provider  134 , in communication with the one or more client computing devices  102 , the content provider  104 , and the CDN service provider  106  via the communication network  110 . The DNS service provider  134  illustrated in  FIG. 1  corresponds to a logical association of one or more computing devices associated with a service provider. Specifically, the DNS service provider  134  can include one or more DNS components  136  made up of a number of DNS server computing devices for resolving DNS queries from the client computers  102 . Illustratively, the DNS service provider  134  would not necessarily include any additional functionality and may provide a DNS request routing service in lieu of any DNS request routing functionality provided by another service provider, such as the CDN service provider  106 . 
     With reference now to  FIGS. 2-6 , the interaction between various components of the content delivery environment  100  of  FIG. 1  will be illustrated. For purposes of the example, however, the illustration has been simplified such that many of the components utilized to facilitate communications are not shown. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that such components can be utilized and that additional interactions would accordingly occur without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. 
     With reference to  FIG. 2 , an illustrative interaction for the optional registration of a content provider  104  with a CDN service provider  106  for hosting content on behalf of the content provider  104  will be described. As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the CDN service provider content registration process begins with registration of the content provider  104  with the CDN service provider  106 . In an illustrative embodiment, the content provider  104  utilizes a registration application program interface (“API”) to register with the CDN service provider  106  such that the CDN service provider  106  can provide content on behalf of the content provider  104 . Illustratively, the registration API can include the identification of the origin server  114  of the content provider  104  that may provide requested resources to the CDN service provider  106 . In addition or alternatively, the registration API can include the content to be stored by the CDN service provider  106  on behalf of the content provider  104 . Additionally, the content provider  104  can specify one or more network storage providers (not illustrated) that may act as an origin server for the content provider  104 . 
     One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that upon identification of appropriate origin servers  114 , the content provider  104  can begin to direct requests for content from client computing devices  102  to the CDN service provider  106 . Specifically, in accordance with DNS routing principles, a client computing device request corresponding to a resource identifier would eventually be directed toward a POP  118 ,  124  associated with the CDN service provider  106 . In the event that the resource cache component  122 ,  126  of a selected POP does not have a copy of a resource requested by a client computing device  102 , the resource cache component will request the resource from the origin server  114  previously registered by the content provider  104 . 
     With continued reference to  FIG. 2 , upon receiving the registration API, the CDN service provider  106  obtains and processes the registration information. In an illustrative embodiment, the CDN service provider  106  can then generate additional information that will be used by the client computing devices  102  as part of the content requests. The additional information can include, without limitation, client identifiers, such as client identification codes, content provider identifiers, such as content provider identification codes, executable code for processing resource identifiers, such as script-based instructions, and the like. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that various types of additional information may be generated by the CDN service provider  106  and that the additional information may be embodied in any one of a variety of formats. 
     The CDN service provider  106  returns an identification of applicable domains for the CDN service provider (unless it has been previously provided) and any additional information to the content provider  104 . In turn, the content provider  104  can then process the stored content with content provider specific information. In one example, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the content provider  104  translates resource identifiers originally directed toward a domain of the origin server  114  to a domain corresponding to the CDN service provider  106 . The translated URLs are embedded into requested content in a manner such that DNS queries for the translated URLs will resolve to a DNS server corresponding to the CDN service provider  106  and not a DNS server corresponding to the content provider  104 . 
     Generally, the identification of the resources embedded in a base requested resource (e.g., a Web page) and originally directed to the content provider  104  will be in the form of resource identifiers that can be processed by the client computing device  102 , such as through a browser software application. In an illustrative embodiment, the resource identifiers can be in the form of a uniform resource locator (“URL”). Because the resource identifiers included in the requested content directed to the content provider, the resource identifiers can be referred to generally as the “content provider URL.” For purposes of an illustrative example, the content provider URL can identify a domain of the content provider  104  (e.g., contentprovider.com), a name of the resource to be requested (e.g., “resource.xxx”) and a path where the resource will be found (e.g., “path”). In this illustrative example, the content provider URL has the form of: 
     http://www.contentprovider.com/path/resource.xxx 
     During an illustrative translation process, the content provider URL is modified such that requests for the resources associated with the translated URLs resolve to a POP associated with the CDN service provider  106 . In one embodiment, the translated URL identifies the domain of the CDN service provider  106  (e.g., “cdnprovider.com”), the same name of the resource to be requested (e.g., “resource.xxx”) and the same path where the resource will be found (e.g., “path”). Additionally, in some embodiments, as will also be described further below, the translated URL can include additional processing information (e.g., “additional information”) in a DNS portion of the URL. The DNS portion of the URL includes information that is accessible by a DNS server during DNS query processing, while a path portion of the URL is not traditionally accessible or used during DNS query processing. The translated URL would have the form of: 
     http://additional_information.cdnprovider.com/path/resources.xxx 
     In the foregoing illustrative embodiment, the DNS portion of the translated URL, which is used by a DNS server during DNS query processing, comprises “additional_information.cdnprovider.com”, while the path portion of the translated URL comprises the “/path/resources.xxx” portion of the above URL. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 3 , after completion of the registration and translation processes illustrated in  FIG. 2 , a client computing device  102  generates a content request for the base requested resource that is received and processed by the content provider  104 , such as through the Web server  112 . In accordance with an illustrative embodiment, the request for content can be in accordance with common network protocols, such as the hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTP”). Upon receipt of the content request, the content provider  104  identifies and returns the appropriate responsive content. In an illustrative embodiment, the requested content can correspond to a Web page that is displayed on the client computing device  102  via the processing of information, such as hypertext markup language (“HTML”), extensible markup language (“XML”), and the like. The requested content can also include a number of embedded resource identifiers that corresponds to resource objects that should be obtained by the client computing device  102  as part of the processing of the requested content. The embedded resources can correspond to multi-media content, such as images, videos, text, etc. that will be processed by the client computing devices  102  and rendered on an output device. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 4A , in one embodiment, upon receipt of the requested content as shown in  FIG. 2 , the client computing device  102  processes the received information in a manner that causes the client computing device  102  to request one or more embedded resources from the CDN service provider  106 . As illustrated in  FIG. 4A , in accordance with traditional communication protocols, the client computing device  102  would first transmit a DNS query to request an IP address of a computing device corresponding to each embedded resource. 
     By way of example, in accordance with traditional DNS request routing principles, resolving a DNS query for the embedded resource URL, http://www.CDNserviceprovider.com/path/resource.xxx, would first include the partial resolution of the URL by identification of a DNS server authoritative to the “.” and the “com” portions of the URL. The issuance of DNS queries corresponding to the “.” and the “com” portions of a URL are well known and have not been illustrated. After partially resolving the embedded resource URL for the “.” and “com” portions of the URL, the resolution of the DNS query for the embedded resource URL would then include the identification of the DNS server corresponding to the “.CDNserviceprovider” portion of the URL, such as DNS server component  120  of POP  118  or a DNS server component  136  of the DNS service provider  134 . In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 4A , the DNS server component  120  of POP  118  has been identified as corresponding to the “.CDNserviceprovider” portion of the URL. 
     As further illustrated in  FIG. 4A , the receiving DNS server component  120  obtains the DNS query from the client computing device  102  and processes the DNS query. In accordance with traditional networking principles, because the DNS server component  120  is authoritative for the URL, the DNS server component  120  thus resolves the query by providing the client computing device  102  with the identification of an IP address that can provide the corresponding requested content, such as a resource cache component  128  of the POP  124 . In addition, in accordance with the present disclosure, the DNS server component  120  also processes the DNS query to identify pre-processing information, such as identification of content to be accelerated or other actions to be implemented by one or more computing devices in association with an anticipated content request from the client computing device  102 , as will be further described below. 
     In one embodiment, the DNS server component  120  may identify the embedded resource that will be requested by the client computing device  120  in association with the DNS query. Identification of the embedded resource may be determined by parsing information from a DNS portion of the resource identifier corresponding to the DNS query. For example, identification of the embedded resource may be included as the additional information in the DNS portion of the resource identifier. If the embedded resource is an image, such as image1.jpeg, the resource identifier would include this information as prepended information in the DNS portion of the resource identifier as follows: 
     http://image1.jpeg.D1.cdnprovider.com/path/resource.xxx 
     As another example, if the embedded resource is a video, the resource identifier could include information identifying the video, as well as other related information such as resolution, in the DNS portion of the resource identifier as follows: 
     http://video1.avi.resolution.D1.cdnprovider.com/path/resource.xxx 
     Alternatively, the information about the video file could be combined or otherwise referenced via a lookup, such as in the following resource identifier: 
     http://videolookupcode_x.cdnprovider.com/path/resource.xxx 
     Other information may also be included in the DNS portion of the above URLs, such as identification of the original content provider, D 1 , associated with the requested content. Accordingly, in one embodiment, the DNS server component  120  may alternatively or additionally parse the DNS query to obtain original content provider information. 
     In one embodiment, the additional information included in the DNS portion of the resource identifier can be included by the content provider  104  as a part of the translation process described above in reference to  FIG. 2 . In another embodiment, a client computing device could dynamically generate one or more modified resource identifiers itself. For example, the client computing device may identify that it requires a resource to be provided with a particular resolution suitable for the client computing device and, as a result, dynamically modify the resource identifier to include the necessary additional information in the DNS portion of the resource identifier to enable pre-processing of the resource at the particular resolution. In this embodiment, the client computing device is modified to include a module for dynamically translating embedded resources prior to issuing corresponding DNS queries. 
     Returning to the DNS query processing of  FIG. 4A , and as will be described in further detail below in reference to  FIG. 4B , the DNS server component  120  may identify the pre-processing information for provision to one or more computing devices that may subsequently process the pre-processing information to identify and take one or more actions. Alternatively, the pre-processing information identified by the DNS server component may also include identification of the one or more actions and instructions for the one or more computing devices to implement the one or more actions. 
     For example, in one embodiment, the DNS server component  120  simply identifies the embedded resource and provides information regarding the anticipated request for the embedded resource to the cache server component that the DNS server component  120  identified responsive to the client&#39;s DNS query, i.e., the resource cache component  128  of the CDN service provider  106 . In this case, the cache server component  120  can identify whether the embedded resource is readily available in cache or whether it will need to be preloaded by virtue of a request to the origin server  114 . In another embodiment, the DNS server component  120  can both identify the embedded resource and instruct the CDN service provider  106  and/or content provider to take a particular action, such as preloading the embedded resource, if it is not available, at the CDN service provider in anticipation of the request for the embedded resource from the client computing device  102 . 
     In another embodiment, the DNS server component  120  may simply identify that a request for a resource, such as an embedded resource, is going to be made by the client and that a communications channel, such as a TCP connection, will need to be opened with an origin server to ultimately obtain the resource. For example, the resource may not be readily available at the CDN service provider to which the resource request will be directed as a result of the resolution of the DNS query and, in this case, the DNS server component  120 , may identify that the action of opening a communications channel between the CDN service provider  106  and the origin server  114  will be required. The DNS server component  120 , as will be further described below in reference to  FIG. 4B , provides this pre-processing information to either the resource cache component that will receive the resource request and/or the original content provider  104  for purposes of one or both of those computing devices opening a communications channel in anticipation of the resource request. In other embodiments, instead of opening a communications channel, the pre-processing information may be to keep a communications channel open, to reset a time to live (TTL) associated with a communications channel, to open multiple communications channels in order to handle a large content request, and the like. 
     In yet another embodiment, the DNS server component  120  may identify that a request for content which resides at the resource cache component  128  will be made, but that the requested content will need to be converted into a different format. The DNS server component  120  may thus determine that the requested content will need to be transcoded before provision to the client computing device  106  and provide this pre-processing information to the resource cache component  128  prior to the client content request as will also be further described in reference to  FIG. 4B  below. The pre-processing information can comprise instructions to complete the identified action or simply the relevant information for the receiving computing device to identify the action to be taken in anticipation of the particular client content request. 
     Turning now to  FIG. 4B , the DNS server component  120  implements the identified pre-processing information determined from the DNS query as discussed above in reference to  FIG. 4A . As a result, the DNS server component  120  provides the identified pre-processing information to the appropriate computing device, such as the original content provider  104  or another identified server component for resolving the anticipated client resource request, i.e., the resource cache component  128  of the CDN service provider  106  in accordance with the current example, or both. The content provider  104  and/or the resource cache component  128  then processes the received pre-processing information to take action in advance of the anticipated client resource request. This action may include opening a communications channel, preloading the requested content at the resource cache component  128  if it is not otherwise available, commencing transcoding of content into an appropriate format for the anticipated resource request, and the like. Ultimately, the action can be any action that would help speed up processing of an anticipated resource request from a client computing device  102 . Again, as similarly set forth above, the action may be identified by the DNS server component  120  and provided to the content provider  104  and/or the resource cache component  128  in the form of instructions to implement the action. Alternatively, the pre-processing information may simply include the necessary information for the content provider  104  and/or resource cache component  128  to determine the necessary pre-processing action required in anticipation of the client resource request. As shown in  FIG. 4B , the processing of the pre-processing information at the content provider  104  and/or resource cache component  128  may also require request processing between the content provider  104  and the resource cache component  128 . 
     For example, in one embodiment, the DNS server component  120  may have identified an embedded resource that will be requested by the client computing device  120  in association with processing the DNS query. In one embodiment, the DNS server component  120  implements this identified pre-processing information by sending instructions to the resource cache component  128  to preload the identified embedded resource if it is not already available at the resource cache component  128 . For example, this result may be common for dynamic content that is not typically cached at the CDN service provider  106 , as opposed to static content that is often already cached and available to be immediately provided in response to a resource request from a client computing device. As a result, the resource cache component  128  may request the opening of a communications channel with the content provider  104  in anticipation of the resource request from the client computing device  102 . In addition, the resource cache component  128  may also request preloading of the identified embedded resource at the resource cache component  128  from the origin server  114 . In other embodiments, the implementation of this pre-processing information may result in the DNS server component  120  instead directly instructing the content provider  104  to open a communications channel with the resource cache component  128 , particularly where the DNS server component  120  can identify the original content provider  104 , such as through parsing information in a DNS portion of a corresponding DNS query. 
     In another embodiment, the implementation of the pre-processing information may simply include identification that a communications channel will need to be opened in anticipation of a resource request from the client computing device and thus result in the DNS server component  120  sending instructions to the content provider  104  and/or resource cache component to open a communications channel. The communications channel may be a channel between the origin server  114  and the resource cache component  128 . The content provider  104  and/or the resource cache component  128 , in turn, process the pre-processing information and take the corresponding anticipatory action, which in this embodiment is opening of a communications channel in anticipation of the client resource request. 
     In yet another embodiment, the implementation of the pre-processing information may involve identifying that an embedded resource corresponding to an anticipated request from the client computing device  102  needs to be in a particular format and thus result in the DNS server component  120  sending instructions to the resource cache component  128 , for example, to start conversion of the embedded resource, such as a video file, into an appropriate format for responding to the anticipated client resource request. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 5 , upon receipt of the resolved DNS query, the client computing device  102  transmits a request for the content to the identified IP address corresponding to the resource cache component that can provide the requested content, i.e., resource cache component  128  in accordance with the foregoing embodiment. In accordance with an embodiment utilizing the hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTP”), the request of a resource can correspond to a GET request transmitted by the client computing device  102  to an IP address associated with CDN service provider  106 . In this embodiment, the content request is received and processed by the resource cache component  128 . Responsive to this request, the resource cache component  128  provides the resource to the client computing device  102 . Upon receipt, the requested resource is processed by the browser application on the client computing device  102  as appropriate. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant art that a selected resource cache component  122 ,  128  can either provide the requested resource if it is available or attempt to obtain the requested resource from another source, such as a peer cache server computing device or the origin server  114  of the content provider  104 . 
     With reference now to  FIG. 6  one embodiment of a routine  600  implemented by a DNS server component  120 ,  126  of the CDN service provider  106  or a DNS server component  136  of a DNS service provider  134  for processing DNS queries to identify pre-processing information will be described. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that actions/steps outlined for routine  600  may be implemented by one or many computing devices/components that are associated with the CDN service provider  106  or DNS service provider  134 . Accordingly, routine  600  has been logically associated as being generally performed by a DNS server component of the CDN service provider  106  or DNS service provider  134 , and thus the following illustrative embodiments should not be construed as limiting. 
     At block  602 , the DNS server component obtains a DNS query corresponding to a resource identifier. As previously discussed, the resource identifier can be a URL that has been embedded in content requested by the client computing device  102  and previously provided by the content provider  104  and/or otherwise modified by a client computing device to include additional information particular to the client computing device. At block  604 , the DNS server component identifies pre-processing information associated with the DNS query and/or the corresponding resource identifier. As set forth above, the pre-processing information may include identification of content to be preloaded or other anticipated actions required to respond to an anticipated client content request. 
     At block  606 , the DNS server component resolves the DNS query by determining an IP address of a computing device that can provide the requested content, such as a resource cache component  128  of the POP  124 , and transmitting the IP address to the client computing device  102 . It should be appreciated that blocks  604  and  606  are both associated with processing of the DNS query and, as such, could be performed in any order or simultaneously. 
     At block  608 , the DNS server component performs a subroutine for implementing one or more pre-processing actions associated with the identified pre-processing information. As set forth above, the implementation of pre-processing information may include providing the identified pre-processing information to the appropriate computing device, such as the original content provider  104 , the resource cache component  128 , or both, or sending instructions to the appropriate computing device to take a particular action in advance of the anticipated client resource request. This action may include opening a communications channel, preloading the requested content at the resource cache component  128  if it is not otherwise available, commencing transcoding of content into an appropriate format for the anticipated resource request, and the like. Ultimately, the action can be any action that would help speed up processing of an anticipated resource request from a client computing device  102 . At block  610 , the routine  600  terminates. 
     With reference now to  FIG. 7 , one embodiment of a subroutine routine  700  for implementing one or more pre-processing actions as set forth at block  608  of  FIG. 6  will be described. Specifically, a DNS server component at a service provider, such as the DNS service provider  134  or CDN service provider  106 , can utilize pre-processing information to anticipate actions which will be required to respond to a client content request. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that actions/steps outlined for subroutine  700  may be implemented by one or many computing devices/components that are associated with the DNS service provider  134  or CDN service provider  106 . Additionally, routine  700  may be implemented by a combination of components from the DNS service provider  134  and CDN service provider  106  in embodiments in which both service providers share common control or ownership. Accordingly, subroutine  700  has been logically associated as being performed by a DNS server component of the DNS service provider  134  or CDN service provider  106 . 
     At a block  702 , a DNS server component performs a test to determine whether the identified pre-processing information includes identification of cacheable content. For example, the DNS server component identifies the embedded resource that a client computing device will request upon resolution of the DNS query. As set forth above, information about the embedded resource is included in the DNS portion of the resource identifier, and the DNS server component identifies this embedded resource by parsing the DNS portion of the DNS query. Once the embedded resource is identified, the DNS server component identifies whether the embedded resource comprises cacheable content. Static content in a Web page, for example, is considered cacheable, while dynamic content is typically not. Essentially, the DNS server component is determining whether the embedded resource is likely to be available at the resource cache component corresponding to the IP address provided to the client computing device in response to the DNS query. 
     If the answer at block  702  is yes, the DNS server component transmits pre-processing information to the resource cache component. In one embodiment, the pre-processing information may include instructions or information for the resource cache component to perform some preliminary processing action in anticipation of the request from the client computing device for the embedded resource, such as opening of one or more communications channels between nodes at a POP of the CDN service provider in order to, for example, move content as close as possible to a cache component that will service the anticipated request for content. In another embodiment, the pre-processing information may include identification of a format of the embedded resource required to respond to an anticipated request from the client computing device  102  for the embedded resource and/or instructions associated with commencing conversion of the embedded resource into the appropriate format in anticipation of the client request. 
     If the answer at block  704  is no, processing continues at block  706  where the DNS server component performs a test to determine whether the identified pre-processing information includes identification of any non-cacheable content, such as content not typically stored by the resource cache component  128  of the CDN service provider  106 . This type of content would need to be obtained by the resource cache component  128  of the CDN service provider  106  from another source, such as the origin server  114  of the content provider  114 . Dynamic content, for example, is often considered non-cacheable content in this context. 
     If the answer at block  706  is yes, the DNS server component transmits pre-processing information to the origin server  114  of the content provider  104 . In one embodiment, the pre-processing information includes instructions or identification of the non-cacheable content for the origin server  114  to preload to the resource cache component  128  in anticipation of a request from the client computing device  102  for the non-cacheable content. In another embodiment, the pre-processing information may simply include instructions or information for the origin server  114  to open a communications channel with the resource cache component  128  in anticipation of the request for the non-cacheable content from the resource cache component  128 . Processing of the subroutine ends at block  710 . In addition, if the answer at block  706  is no, processing of the subroutine also ends at block  710 . 
     It will be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant art that there are a number of ways to modify the routing information associated with requests from a class of client computing devices. It will further be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant art that the timing at which performance is monitored and updates to routing information are made can vary. 
     It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art and others that all of the functions described in this disclosure may be embodied in software executed by one or more processors of the disclosed components and mobile communication devices. The software may be persistently stored in any type of non-volatile storage. 
     Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. 
     Any process descriptions, elements, or blocks in the flow diagrams described herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should be understood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternate implementations are included within the scope of the embodiments described herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those skilled in the art. It will further be appreciated that the data and/or components described above may be stored on a computer-readable medium and loaded into memory of the computing device using a drive mechanism associated with a computer readable storing the computer executable components such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or network interface further, the component and/or data can be included in a single device or distributed in any manner. Accordingly, general purpose computing devices may be configured to implement the processes, algorithms and methodology of the present disclosure with the processing and/or execution of the various data and/or components described above. 
     It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments, the elements of which are to be understood as being among other acceptable examples. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.