Patent ID: 8478883

Claim:
A method of managing session persistence through a server in a content distribution network (CDN), comprising: receiving, via a user interface and from an operator of one or more origin servers holding content to be delivered through a content distribution network, a selection of at least one persistence option from among a plurality of persistence options that include: CDN-server-based persistence, in which one or more CDN servers in the content distribution network are responsible for establishing session persistence, and origin-server-based persistence, in which the one or more origin servers are responsible for establishing session persistence; receiving a content request from a client at a particular CDN server in the one or more CDN servers; selecting, with the particular CDN server, an origin server in the one or more origin servers from which to retrieve the requested content, the particular CDN server selecting the origin server so as to maintain session persistence between the client and the origin server that was established according to the at least one persistence option selected by the operator; retrieving the requested content from the selected origin server; and sending the requested content from the particular CDN server to the client; wherein the particular CDN server selects the origin server so as to maintain session persistence by performing at least one action selected from the group of actions that are: (i) receiving a cookie that indicates use of a persistent session with the origin server and selecting the origin server based on the cookie, the cookie having been provided by one of the one or more CDN servers if the operator selected the CDN-server-based persistence option, and having been provided by one of the one or more origin servers if the operator selected the origin-server-based persistence option; (ii) receiving a URL parameter that indicates use of a persistent session with the origin server and selecting the origin server based on the URL parameter, the URL parameter having been provided by one of the one or more CDN servers if the operator selected the CDN-server-based persistence option, and having been provided by one of the one or more origin servers if the operator selected the origin-server-based persistence option.