Patent ID: 8775564

Claim:
A content delivery network (CDN) that performs time varying traffic allocation, the network comprising: one or more edge servers, wherein: the edge servers store content corresponding to a domain name that is associated with a content provider, and the edge servers are configured to deliver the content to end users in response to requests received at the edge servers from the end users; analytics information characterizing the CDN; and a traffic engine that: periodically evaluates a service function as having a serve value or a shunt value for the domain name, based at least in part on the analytics information; transmits one or more IP addresses of the edge servers to an interface to a domain name service (DNS) while the service function has the serve value for the domain name; and transmits alternate domain name information of a different network to the interface while the service function has the shunt value; wherein, at a first time: the traffic engine determines, based on the analytics information, that the service function has the serve value for the domain name, the traffic engine transmits an IP address of at least one of the edge servers to the interface, and the one of the edge servers serves content corresponding to the domain name, in response to a request for the content from one of the end users that is directed to the domain name and is resolved by the DNS to provide the IP address; and at a second time: the traffic engine determines, based on the analytics information, that the service function has the shunt value for the domain name, and the traffic engine transmits the alternate domain name information of the different network to the interface.