Patent ID: 8489731

Claim:
A method of allowing an operator of a content site to specify content delivery statistics to be gathered by a content delivery network, the method comprising: receiving, from a provider of a content site, content comprising a file for download or streaming; provisioning the content to a plurality of delivery servers of a content delivery network, thereby hosting the content on behalf of the content site provider, such that a request from an end user for the content directed to a server of the content site is redirected to one of the delivery servers of the content delivery network, the delivery servers each comprising an edge node in the content delivery network; outputting a custom tracking user interface for presentation to the content site provider with one or more processors, the custom tracking user interface providing functionality for the content site provider to specify one or more types of content delivery data to be tracked by the content delivery network; receiving a custom tracking request from the content site provider with the custom tracking user interface, the custom tracking request identifying a selected type of content delivery data to be tracked and one or more data sources for tracking the selected type of content delivery data, wherein the selected type of content delivery data is not currently being tracked, and wherein the one or more data sources comprise one or more of the following: an HTTP cookie and an HTTP header; automatically instructing the delivery servers to track the selected type of content delivery data in response to receiving the custom tracking request by at least instructing the delivery servers to look for the selected type of content delivery data in the one or more data sources; receiving tracked content delivery data from the delivery servers, the tracked content delivery data comprising custom statistics regarding deliveries of the content from the one or more delivery servers to a plurality of end users, the custom statistics being obtained responsive to the custom tracking request; and outputting a reporting user interface comprising at least a portion of the content delivery data for presentation to the content site provider.