Patent ID: 7734815

Claim:
A method of determining which of a set of mirror sites should receive a request to a domain that is replicated at the set of mirror sites, comprising: generating a network map during a map generation process according to the following sub-steps: identifying a set of proxy points, each proxy point being identified by directing a trace route from each of a set of mirror sites toward a given name server and determining a given point in the Internet where the trace routes from each of the set of mirror sites intersect; probing each of the proxy points from each of the set of mirror sites to generate latency and packet loss data; generating a score for each mirror site based on the latency and packet loss data generated by probing the proxy points, wherein the score is a function of a time-weighted average of latency modified by a penalty factor that is a function of a time-weighted average of packet loss; identifying which mirror site provides a best performance based on the score; and associating a given name server IP address with the identified mirror site to generate the network map; and upon completion of the map generation process, receiving a request at a name server associated with the network map; and having the name server associated with the network map use the network map to return an IP address identifying a preferred mirror site to service the request.