Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Akamai Technologies, Inc.

Daniel M Lewin

F Thomson Leighton

Matthew S Levine

David R Karger

Eric Lehman

Anne E Lewin, Legal Representative

Jay Parikh

Rina Panagrahy

William Edward Weihl

Ravi Sundaram

Andrew Thomas Davis

Adrian Soviani

Marty Kagan

Robert D Kleinberg

Bruce Maggs

Samuel Dov Gendler

Mor Harchol-Balter

Andrew Parker

Rizwan S Dhanidina

David M Shaw

Rina Panigrahy

Leighton F Thomson

Srikanth Thirumalai

Mark Tsimelzon

Hariharan Rahul

Charles J Neerdaels

John Josef Kloninger

Yoav O Yerushalmi

Rizwan S Dhanldina

Robert Kleinberg

Matthew Levine

Michael Moise Afergan

David Shaw

Jay Gunvantrai Parikh

Madhukar R Korupolu

Andrian Soviani

Hariharan Shankar Rahul

Network architecture supports hosting and content distribution on a global scale. The architecture allows a Content Provider to replicate and serve its most popular content at an unlimited number of points throughout the world. The inventive framework comprises a set of servers operating in a distributed manner. The actual content to be served is preferably supported on a set of hosting servers (sometimes referred to as ghost servers). This content comprises HTML page objects that, conventionally, are served from a Content Provider site. A base HTML document portion of a Web page is served from the Content Provider's site while one or more embedded objects for the page are served from the hosting servers, preferably, those hosting servers near the client machine. By serving the base HTML document from the Content Provider's site, the Content Provider maintains control over the content.

Global hosting system

A method for Internet delivery in a delivery network established at network locations, the delivery network comprising a plurality of content servers for serving resources. The servers include a plurality of subsets, each subset being located at one of a plurality of Internet data centers. For each Internet Protocol (IP) address block from which requests for content resources are expected to be received, the method generates a candidate list of data centers to be used to service the requests. For the IP address block, the method selects at least one of the data centers from the candidate list. The selected Internet data center for the IP address block is written into a network map. In response to a DNS query, the map is used to identify one of the Internet data centers from the candidate list to be used to service a request for a content resource.

Network performance monitoring in a content delivery system

Content is dynamically assembled at the edge of the Internet, preferably on content delivery network (CDN) edge servers. A content provider leverages an 'edge side include' (ESI) markup language that is used to define Web page fragments for dynamic assembly at the edge. Dynamic assembly improves site performance by caching objects that comprise dynamically-generated pages at the edge of the Internet, close to the end user. Instead of being assembled by an application/web server in a centralized data center, the application/web server sends a page template and content fragments to a CDN edge server where the page is assembled. Each content fragment can have its own cacheability profile to manage the 'freshness' of the content. Once a user requests a page, the edge server examines its cache for the included fragments and assembles the page on-the-fly.

Dynamic content assembly on edge-of network servers in a content delivery network

A content delivery network provides delivery of cacheable content files, such as HTML. To support HTML delivery, the content provider provides the CDNSP with an association of the content provider's domain name to an origin server domain name at which default HTML files are published. The CDNSP provides its customer with a CDNSP-specific domain name. The content provider then implements DNS entry aliasing so that domain name requests for the host cue the CDN DNS request routing mechanism. This mechanism identifies a content server to respond to a request directed to the customer's domain. The CDN content server returns a default HTML file if such file is cached; otherwise, the content server directs a request for the file to the origin server to retrieve the file, after which the file is cached on the content server for subsequent use.

HTML delivery from edge-of-network servers in a content delivery network (CDN)

Dynamic content assembly on edge-of-network servers in a content delivery network

In distributed networks of cooperating nodes, it is useful to perform resource discovery in a manner that is efficient but that also minimizes communication complexity. A system and method in which nodes in a network efficiently are provided with information about the presence of, and other information about, other nodes in the network provides tangible benefits. In general, in one aspect, a system and method according to the invention features a distributed method for communicating information among a plurality of nodes. The method includes communicating from the first node to the second node information about the first node and nodes that the first node is aware of. The method further includes adding or merging, by the second node, the information about the first node and nodes that the first node is aware of with information about nodes that the second node is aware of.

System and method for resource discovery

The invention relates to an apparatus for responding to data requests made by a client. The apparatus includes an input receiving a first data request that includes a sequence of nodes corresponding to a sequence of servers. The apparatus also includes decision logic determining whether the data specified in the data request is available on a selected server, and if the data is not available determining a next node from the sequence of nodes. The apparatus also includes a mapper mapping a server to the next node, and an output requesting the data by transmitting a second data request to the server mapped to the next node.

Method and apparatus for distributing requests among a plurality of resources

A method for Internet content delivery in a content delivery network established at network locations, the content delivery network comprising a plurality of content servers for serving content resources. The plurality of content servers includes a plurality of subsets of content servers, each subject being located at one of a plurality of Internet data centers. For each Internet Protocol (IP) address block from which requests for content resources are expected to be received, the method generates a candidate list of Internet data centers to be used to service the requests for content resources. For the IP address block, the method selects at least one of the Internet data centers from the candidate list to be used to service the requests for content resources. The selected Internet data center for the IP address block is written into a network map. The selecting step is carried out concurrently for each IP address block from which requests for content resources are expected to be received such that the network map comprises the selected Internet data center for each IP address block. The network map is then provided to a domain name service (DNS) associated with the content delivery network. In response to a DNS query received at the domain name service associated with the content delivery network, the network map is used to identify one of the Internet data centers from the candidate list to be used to service a request for a content resource.

A content delivery network is enhanced to provide for delivery of cacheable markup language content files such as HTML. To support HTML delivery, the content provider provides the CDNSP with an association of the content provider's domain name (e.g., www.customer.com) to an origin server domain name (e.g., html.customer.com) at which one or more default HTML files are published and hosted. The CDNSP provides its customer with a CDNSP-specific domain name. The content provider, or an entity on its behalf, then implements DNS entry aliasing (e.g., a CNAME of the host to the CDNSP-specific domain) so that domain name requests for the host cue the CDN DNS request routing mechanism. This mechanism then identifies a best content server to respond to a request directed to the customer's domain. The CDN content server returns a default HTML file if such file is cached; otherwise, the CDN content server directs a request for the file to the origin server to retrieve the file, after which the file is cached on the CDN content server for subsequent use in servicing other requests. The content provider is also provided with log files of CDNSP-delivered HTML.

A network architecture or framework supports hosting and content distribution on a truly global scale. The inventive framework allows a Content Provider to replicate and serve its most popular content at an unlimited number of points throughout the world. The inventive framework comprises a set of servers operating in a distributed manner. The actual content to be served is preferably supported on a set of hosting servers (sometimes referred to as ghost servers). This content comprises HTML page objects that, conventionally, are served from a Content Provider site. A base HTML document portion of a Web page is served from the Content Provider's site while one or more embedded objects for the page are served from the hosting servers, preferably, those hosting servers near the client machine. By serving the base HTML document from the Content Provider's site, the Content Provider maintains control over the content.

The disclosed technique enables a content provider to dynamically assemble content at the edge of the Internet, preferably on content delivery network (CDN) edge servers. Preferably, the content provider leverages an 'edge side include' (ESI) markup language that is used to define Web page fragments for dynamic assembly at the edge. Dynamic assembly improves site performance by catching the objects that comprise dynamically generated pages at the edge of the Internet, close to the end user. The content provider designs and develops the business logic to form and assemble the pages, for example, by using the ESI language within its development environment. Instead of being assembled by an application/web server in a centralized data center, the application/web server sends a page template and content fragments to a CDN edge server where the page is assembled. Each content fragment can have its own cacheability profile to manage the 'freshness' of the content. Once a user requests a page (template), the edge server examines its cache for the included fragments and assembles the page on-the-fly.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for distributing a request to one of a plurality of resources. A request is mapped to a location in circular mapping space using a hash function. Each of the plurality of resources is mapped to a respective location or locations in the circular mapping space. The request is allocated to one of the resources based on the given request location and the resource location in the circular mapping space.

The present invention is a network architecture or framework that supports hosting and content distribution on a truly global scale. The inventive framework allows a Content Provider to replicate and serve its most popular content at an unlimited number of points throughout the world. The inventive framework comprises a set of servers operating in a distributed manner. The actual content to be served is preferably supported on a set of hosting servers (sometimes referred to as ghost servers). This content comprises HTML page objects that, conventionally, are served from a Content Provider site. In accordance with the invention, however, a base HTML document portion of a Web page is served from the Content Provider's site while one or more embedded objects for the page are served from the hosting servers, preferably, those hosting servers near the client machine. By serving the base HTML document from the Content Provider's site, the Content Provider maintains control over the content.

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Daniel M Lewin