Abstract: A method and mechanism for a distributed on-demand computing system. The system automatically provisions distributed computing servers with customer application programs. The parameters of each customer application program are taken into account when a server is selected for hosting the program. The system monitors the status and performance of each distributed computing server. The system provisions additional servers when traffic levels exceed a predetermined level for a customer's application program and, as traffic demand decreases to a predetermined level, servers can be un-provisioned and returned back to a server pool for later provisioning. The system tries to fill up one server at a time with customer application programs before dispatching new requests to another server. The customer is charged a fee based on the usage of the distributed computing servers.

Abstract: A method for determining metrics of a content delivery and global traffic management network provides service metric probes that determine the service availability and metric measurements of types of services provided by a content delivery machine. Latency probes are also provided for determining the latency of various servers within a network. Service metric probes consult a configuration file containing each DNS name in its area and the set of services. Each server in the network has a metric test associated with each service supported by the server which the service metric probes periodically performs metric tests on and records the metric test results which are periodically sent to all of the DNS servers in the network. DNS servers use the test result updates to determine the best server to return for a given DNS name. The latency probe calculates the latency from its location to a client's location using the round trip time for sending a packet to the client to obtain the latency value for that client.

Abstract: A method and mechanism for a distributed on-demand computing system. The system automatically provisions distributed computing servers with customer application programs. The parameters of each customer application program are taken into account when a server is selected for hosting the program. The system monitors the status and performance of each distributed computing server. The system provisions additional servers when traffic levels exceed a predetermined level for a customer's application program and, as traffic demand decreases to a predetermined level, servers can be un-provisioned and returned back to a server pool for later provisioning. The system tries to fill up one server at a time with customer application programs before dispatching new requests to another server. The customer is charged a fee based on the usage of the distributed computing servers.

Abstract: A dynamic image delivery system receives a client request for an image at an image caching server. The image caching server measures the client's network access speed and looks for an appropriate pre-rendered copy of the requested image that is rendered for the client's network access speed in local storage. If the appropriate rendered copy is found, then the image caching server sends the rendered image to the client. If it is not found, then the image caching server dynamically renders a copy of the image and sends it to the client.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for using the mobility support features of IPv6 to allow client and server nodes to communicate without the continuing intervention of a load-balancing node that selected the server node. A load-balancing node intercepts a TCP SYN packet addressed to a virtual IP address. The load-balancing node selects a server node from among multiple server nodes, and sends the packet toward the server node. The server node sends an IPv6 packet toward the client node. The packet contains a Binding Update option that specifies the virtual IP address as a Home Address. This information causes the client node to replace destination addresses in outgoing IP packets so that packets that the client node would have sent toward the virtual IP address are sent toward the selected server node's IP address instead. Consequently, the IP packets are routed toward the selected server node instead of the load-balancing node.

Abstract: A dynamic image delivery system receives a client request for an image at an image caching server. The image caching server measures the client's network access speed and looks for an appropriate pre-rendered copy of the requested image that is rendered for the client's network access speed in local storage. If the appropriate rendered copy is found, then the image caching server sends the rendered image to the client. If it is not found, then the image caching server dynamically renders a copy of the image and sends it to the client.

Abstract: A method for determining metrics of a content delivery and global traffic management network provides service metric probes that determine the service availability and metric measurements of types of services provided by a content delivery machine. Latency probes are also provided for determining the latency of various servers within a network. Service metric probes consult a configuration file containing each DNS name in its area and the set of services. Each server in the network has a metric test associated with each service supported by the server which the service metric probes periodically performs metric tests on and records the metric test results which are periodically sent to all of the DNS servers in the network. DNS servers use the test result updates to determine the best server to return for a given DNS name. The latency probe calculates the latency from its location to a client's location using the round trip time for sending a packet to the client to obtain the latency value for that client.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method for determining metrics of a content delivery and global traffic management network provides service metric probes that determine the service availability and metric measurements of types of services provided by a content delivery machine. A server in the network has a metric test associated with each service supported by the server which the service metric probes periodically performs metric tests on and records the metric test results which are periodically sent to all of the DNS servers in the network. Generic load probes also report metric test results. DNS servers use the test result updates to determine the best server to return for a given DNS name.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for serving content requests using global and local load balancing techniques is provided. Web site content is cached using two or more point of presences (POPs), wherein each POP has at least one DNS server. Each DNS server is associated with the same anycast IP address. A domain name resolution request is transmitted to the POP in closest network proximity for resolution based on the anycast IP address. Once the domain name resolution request is received at a particular POP, local load balancing techniques are performed to dynamically select the appropriate Web server at the POP for use in resolving the domain name resolution request. Approaches are described for handling bursts of traffic at a particular POP, security, and recovering from the failure of various components of the system.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for using the mobility support features of IPv6 to allow client and server nodes to communicate without the continuing intervention of a load-balancing node that selected the server node. A load-balancing node intercepts a TCP SYN packet addressed to a virtual IP address. The load-balancing node selects a server node from among multiple server nodes, and sends the packet toward the server node. The server node sends an IPv6 packet toward the client node. The packet contains a Binding Update option that specifies the virtual IP address as a Home Address. This information causes the client node to replace destination addresses in outgoing IP packets so that packets that the client node would have sent toward the virtual IP address are sent toward the selected server node's IP address instead. Consequently, the IP packets are routed toward the selected server node instead of the load-balancing node.

Abstract: A method for determining metrics of a content delivery and global traffic management network provides service metric probes that determine the service availability and metric measurements of types of services provided by a content delivery machine. Latency probes are also provided for determining the latency of various servers within a network. Service metric probes consult a configuration file containing each DNS name in its area and the set of services. Each server in the network has a metric test associated with each service supported by the server which the service metric probes periodically performs metric tests on and records the metric test results which are periodically sent to all of the DNS servers in the network. DNS servers use the test result updates to determine the best server to return for a given DNS name. The latency probe calculates the latency from its location to a client's location using the round trip time for sending a packet to the client to obtain the latency value for that client.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for establishing session persistence between a client and an origin server are provided. The session persistence can be managed by an intermediate cache server. The persistence is established by inserting an identifier and origin server address in a cookie or URL. Alternatively, the persistence is established by a table mapping a source IP address or a session ID to a specific origin server. Subsequent requests from the same client are mapped to the same origin server using these methods of establishing persistence.

Abstract: A dynamic image delivery system receives a client request for an image at an image caching server. The image caching server measures the client's network access speed and looks for an appropriate pre-rendered copy of the requested image that is rendered for the client's network access speed in local storage. If the appropriate rendered copy is found, then the image caching server sends the rendered image to the client. If it is not found, then the image caching server dynamically renders a copy of the image and sends it to the client.

Abstract: A distributed DNS network includes a central origin server that actually controls the zone, and edge DNS cache servers configured to cache the DNS content of the origin server. The edge DNS cache servers are published as the authoritative servers for customer domains instead of the origin server. When a request for a DNS record results in a cache miss, the edge DNS cache servers get the information from the origin server and cache it for use in response to future requests. Multiple edge DNS cache servers can be deployed at multiple locations. Since an unlimited number of edge DNS cache servers can be deployed, the system is highly scalable. The disclosed techniques protect against DoS attacks, as DNS requests are not made to the origin server directly.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for serving content requests using global and local load balancing techniques is provided. Web site content is cached using two or more point of presences (POPs), wherein each POP has at least one DNS server. Each DNS server is associated with the same anycast IP address. A domain name resolution request is transmitted to the POP in closest network proximity for resolution based on the anycast IP address. Once the domain name resolution request is received at a particular POP, local load balancing techniques are performed to dynamically select the appropriate Web server at the POP for use in resolving the domain name resolution request. Approaches are described for handling bursts of traffic at a particular POP, security, and recovering from the failure of various components of the system.

Abstract: A dynamic image delivery system receives a client request for an image at an image caching server. The image caching server measures the client's network access speed and looks for an appropriate pre-rendered copy of the requested image that is rendered for the client's network access speed in local storage. If the appropriate rendered copy is found, then the image caching server sends the rendered image to the client. If it is not found, then the image caching server dynamically renders a copy of the image and sends it to the client.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for using the mobility support features of IPv6 to allow client and server nodes to communicate without the continuing intervention of a load-balancing node that selected the server node. A load-balancing node intercepts a TCP SYN packet addressed to a virtual IP address. The load-balancing node selects a server node from among multiple server nodes, and sends the packet toward the server node. The server node sends an IPv6 packet toward the client node. The packet contains a Binding Update option that specifies the virtual IP address as a Home Address. This information causes the client node to replace destination addresses in outgoing IP packets so that packets that the client node would have sent toward the virtual IP address are sent toward the selected server node's IP address instead. Consequently, the IP packets are routed toward the selected server node instead of the load-balancing node.

Abstract: A method for determining metrics of a content delivery and global traffic management network provides service metric probes that determine the service availability and metric measurements of types of services provided by a content delivery machine. Latency probes are also provided for determining the latency of various servers within a network. The latency probe calculates, for example, the latency from its location to a client's location using the round trip time for sending a packet to the client to obtain the latency value for that client. DNS servers use the latency test results, along with traffic weightings, to determine a server to return for a given DNS name.

Abstract: A dynamic multimedia fingerprinting system is provided. A user requests multimedia content from a Web cache server that verifies that the user is authorized to download the content. A custom fingerprint specific to the user is generated and dynamically inserted into the content as the content is delivered to the user. The custom fingerprint can be generated on the Web cache server or at the content provider's server. The system allows a content provider to specify where the custom fingerprint is inserted into the content or where the fingerprint is to replace a placeholder within the content.

Abstract: A dynamic multimedia fingerprinting system is provided. A user requests multimedia content from a Web cache server that verifies that the user is authorized to download the content. A custom fingerprint specific to the user is generated and dynamically inserted into the content as the content is delivered to the user. The custom fingerprint can be generated on the Web cache server or at the content provider's server. The system allows a content provider to specify where the custom fingerprint is inserted into the content or where the fingerprint is to replace a placeholder within the content.