Abstract: Some embodiments provide a multi-tenant over-the-top multicast solution that integrates the per user stream customizability of unicast with the large scale streaming efficiencies of multicast. The solution involves an application, different multicast groups streaming an event with different customizations, and a manifest file or metadata identifying the different groups and customizations. The solution leverages the different multicast groups in order to provide different time shifts in the event stream, different quality level encodings of the event stream, and different secondary content to be included with a primary content stream. The application configured with the manifest file or metadata dynamically switches between the groups in order to customize the experience for a user or user device on which the application executes. Switching from multicast to unicast is also supported to supplement available customizations and for failover.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide an end-to-end federated CDN solution that assimilates a transparent caching server that is operated by a transparent caching server operator into a CDN that independently operates CDN caching servers. Specifically, the logs from the transparent caching server are assimilated into the CDN by aggregating the logs from the transparent caching server and processing the transparent caching server logs to identify network usage for content of a CDN content provider customer that is delivered by the transparent caching server. The network usage is then combined with the network usage that tracked by the CDN caching servers in order to provide comprehensive report metrics for the content provider customer and to bill the content provider customer for all network usage related to delivering the content provider customer's content irrespective of whether the content was delivered by a transparent caching server or a CDN caching server.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a director agent, a server agent, and a specialized hand-off protocol for improving scalability and resource usage within a server farm. A first network connection is established between a client and the director agent in order to receive a content request from the client from which to select a server from a set of servers that is responsible for hosting the requested content. A second network connection is established between the server agent that is associated with the selected server and a protocol stack of the selected server. The first network connection is handed-off to the server agent using the specialized hand-off protocol. The server agent performs network connection state parameter transformations between the two connections to create a network connection through which content can be passed from the selected server to the client without passing through the director.

Abstract: Some embodiments set forth a control message header rewriting methodology. Incoming packets are inspected to identify control messages. Each control message is then inspected to determine whether it originates from a client engaged in a session with a server or from an intermediary node along the path connecting the client and the server. The determination is predicated on a comparison of the addressing provided in the control message header and the addressing provided in the offending packet header, wherein the offending packet is the packet that triggers the intermediary node to issue the control message. If the addressing differs, the header addressing of control message is rewritten using the header addressing of the offending packet. Otherwise, a session table lookup is performed to identify which session the control message is directed to based in part on a hash of the control message header addressing.

Abstract: Some embodiments set forth systems and methods enabling a first network to use the resources of various second networks in order to localize delivery of the first network content from the various second networks in a secure manner. Some embodiments provide a token-based authentication scheme to ensure that any configured content access restrictions are effectuated at the first network and any of the second networks providing localized content delivery for the first network. The scheme involves a two phase user authentication, wherein the user is separately authenticated at the first network and the redirected to second network using either the same or different set of access restrictions. The first network exchanges a first encryption key with content providers for encrypting/decrypting the first access restriction and a second encryption key with a second network for encrypting/decrypting the second access restriction.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a director agent, a server agent, and a specialized hand-off protocol for improving scalability and resource usage within a server farm. A first network connection is established between a client and the director agent in order to receive a content request from the client from which to select a server from a set of servers that is responsible for hosting the requested content. A second network connection is established between the server agent that is associated with the selected server and a protocol stack of the selected server. The first network connection is handed-off to the server agent using the specialized hand-off protocol. The server agent performs network connection state parameter transformations between the two connections to create a network connection through which content can be passed from the selected server to the client without passing through the director.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a capacity management agent that modifies bandwidth that is allocated between an end user and a carrier network by caching requested content that is streamed at a first rate and then providing the cached content to the end user through the carrier network at a second rate. The agent performs a process that includes receiving data intended for a service region of the carrier network from an external data network. The process identifies resource availability at the service region. Next, the process passes the data to the service region at the first rate when the resource availability at the service region is not less than a threshold amount and caches the data for passing to the service region at the second rate that consumes fewer carrier network resource than the first rate when the resource availability at the service region is less than the threshold amount.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a content delivery network (CDN) solution that affords the CDN control over those elements of customer content that are delivered by third parties. The CDN integrates a distributed set of monitoring agents. Each monitoring agent monitors the delivery performance of third parties to the region in which the agent operates. The CDN uses the performance monitoring information to dynamically manage the content tags to the third-party delivered elements of CDN-customer content. Specifically, a CDN server retrieves the parent page for requested CDN-customer content. The CDN server identifies the region from where the request originates and retrieves the logs from the monitoring agents monitoring from that region. The CDN server then modifies the base page by dynamically removing the tags to the third-party delivered elements that are reported in the monitoring agent logs as being unavailable, inaccessible, or underperforming in the identified region.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a capacity management agent that modifies bandwidth that is allocated between an end user and a carrier network by caching requested content that is streamed at a first rate and then providing the cached content to the end user through the carrier network at a second rate. The agent performs a process that includes receiving data intended for a service region of the carrier network from an external data network. The process identifies resource availability at the service region. Next, the process passes the data to the service region at the first rate when the resource availability at the service region is not less than a threshold amount and caches the data for passing to the service region at the second rate that consumes fewer carrier network resource than the first rate when the resource availability at the service region is less than the threshold amount.

Abstract: Some embodiments override network or router level path selection with application or server controlled path selection by repurposing the type-of-service (ToS) or differentiated services header field. A mapping table maps different ToS values to different available transit provider paths to a particular destination. A server generating a packet to the destination selects one of the available paths according to any of load balanced, failover, or performance optimization criteria. The server sets the packet header ToS field with the value assigned to the selected path. A router operating in the same network as the server is configured with policy based routing rules that similarly map the ToS values to different transit provider paths to the particular destination network. Upon receiving the server generated packet, the router routes the packet to the destination network through the transit provider path identified in the packet header by the server set ToS value.

Abstract: Some embodiments move the task of selecting between different transit provider paths from the network level to the application level. Some embodiments perform network level configurations involving a destination network router advertising over a first transit provider path, a unique first address identifying a destination network server as reachable via the first path and advertising over a second transit provider path, a unique second address identifying the destination network server as reachable via the second path. Some embodiments further perform application level configurations involving a source network server passing a first packet to the destination network server over the first path by addressing the first packet to the first address and passing a second packet to the destination network server over the second path by addressing the second packet to the second address. The path selection may be based on policies accounting for congestion, performance, and other metrics.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a capacity exchange whereby capacity from different content delivery networks (CDNs) can be bought, sold, and traded. The capacity exchange is part of an “Open CDN” platform. The Open CDN platform federates the independent operation of CDNs and other operators of and service providers to distributed platforms participating in the Open CDN platform so that each participant can (1) dynamically scale its capacity without incurring additional infrastructure costs, (2) expand its service into previously untapped geographic regions without physically establishing points of presence (POPs) at those geographic regions, and (3) reduce sunk costs associated with unused capacity of already deployed infrastructure by selling that unused capacity to other participants that are in need of additional capacity.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a content delivery network (CDN) solution that affords the CDN control over those elements of customer content that are delivered by third parties. The CDN integrates a distributed set of monitoring agents. Each monitoring agent monitors the delivery performance of third parties to the region in which the agent operates. The CDN uses the performance monitoring information to dynamically manage the content tags to the third-party delivered elements of CDN-customer content. Specifically, a CDN server retrieves the parent page for requested CDN-customer content. The CDN server identifies the region from where the request originates and retrieves the logs from the monitoring agents monitoring from that region. The CDN server then modifies the base page by dynamically removing the tags to the third-party delivered elements that are reported in the monitoring agent logs as being unavailable, inaccessible, or underperforming in the identified region.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide instantaneous and non-blocking content purging across storage servers of a distributed platform. When a server receives a purge operation, it extracts an identifier from the purge operation. The server then generates a content purge pattern from the identifier and injects the pattern to its configuration. Instantaneous purging is then realized as the server averts access to any cached content identified by the pattern. The purging also occurs in a non-blocking fashion as the physical purge of the content occurs in-line with the server's cache miss operation. The content purge pattern causes the server to respond to a subsequently received content request with a cache miss, whereby the server retrieves the requested content from an origin source, serves the retrieved content to the requesting user, and replaces a previously cached copy of the content that is to be purged with the newly retrieved copy.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a log reporting system for a federation of independently operated CDNs so that logs, performance, analytics, and billing can be obtained for customers irrespective of which servers of which federation participants the customers' configurations are deployed to. The system includes a log aggregator, splitter, management agent, archival storage, dissemination agent, data log analyzer, and portal. The log aggregator aggregates server logs from servers of the federation participants. The splitter produces customer logs by regrouping the server logs on a per customer basis irrespective of which servers of which federation participants produced entries for each customer. The management agent controls operations of the archival storage, dissemination agent, and log analyzer. The archival storage archives customer logs. The dissemination agent disseminates customer logs. The log analyzer processes the customer logs to produce reports, analytics, and billing.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide instantaneous and non-blocking content purging across storage servers of a distributed platform. When a server receives a purge operation, it extracts an identifier from the purge operation. The server then generates a content purge pattern from the identifier and injects the pattern to its configuration. Instantaneous purging is then realized as the server averts access to any cached content identified by the pattern. The purging also occurs in a non-blocking fashion as the physical purge of the content occurs in-line with the server's cache miss operation. The content purge pattern causes the server to respond to a subsequently received content request with a cache miss, whereby the server retrieves the requested content from an origin source, serves the retrieved content to the requesting user, and replaces a previously cached copy of the content that is to be purged with the newly retrieved copy.

Abstract: Some embodiments implement systems and methods to monitor CDN performance from the end user's perspective. To achieve full end-to-end monitoring, the systems and methods monitor the performance of Anycast routing for routing an end user to the optimal PoP of the CDN and monitor the performance of different routes that deliver content from the optimally selected PoP back to the end user. Systems and methods are also provided to leverage the monitored performance in order to automatically optimize the performance of the CDN by optimizing or modifying Anycast routing and by performing route grooming as needed to ensure that the optimal route is selected to deliver content to different sets of end users that request content from a particular PoP.

Abstract: Some embodiments set forth a control message header rewriting methodology. Incoming packets are inspected to identify control messages. Each control message is then inspected to determine whether it originates from a client engaged in a session with a server or from an intermediary node along the path connecting the client and the server. The determination is predicated on a comparison of the addressing provided in the control message header and the addressing provided in the offending packet header, wherein the offending packet is the packet that triggers the intermediary node to issue the control message. If the addressing differs, the header addressing of control message is rewritten using the header addressing of the offending packet. Otherwise, a session table lookup is performed to identify which session the control message is directed to based in part on a hash of the control message header addressing.

Abstract: Some embodiments set forth systems and methods enabling a first network to use the resources of various second networks in order to localize delivery of the first network content from the various second networks in a secure manner. Some embodiments provide a token-based authentication scheme to ensure that any configured content access restrictions are effectuated at the first network and any of the second networks providing localized content delivery for the first network. The scheme involves a two phase user authentication, wherein the user is separately authenticated at the first network and the redirected to second network using either the same or different set of access restrictions. The first network exchanges a first encryption key with content providers for encrypting/decrypting the first access restriction and a second encryption key with a second network for encrypting/decrypting the second access restriction.

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a multi-tenant over-the-top multicast solution that integrates the per user stream customizability of unicast with the large scale streaming efficiencies of multicast. The solution involves an application, different multicast groups streaming an event with different customizations, and a manifest file or metadata identifying the different groups and customizations. The solution leverages the different multicast groups in order to provide different time shifts in the event stream, different quality level encodings of the event stream, and different secondary content to be included with a primary content stream. The application configured with the manifest file or metadata dynamically switches between the groups in order to customize the experience for a user or user device on which the application executes. Switching from multicast to unicast is also supported to supplement available customizations and for failover.