Method for operating an integrated point of presence server network

Abstract

A method for operating a network of point of presence servers sharing a hostname includes receiving a request from a user for a web page at a first web address, determining traffic loads of a plurality of customer web servers, determining a customer web server from the plurality of customer web servers, the customer web server having a traffic load lower than traffic loads of remaining customer web servers, directing the request from the user to the customer web server, receiving a request from the user for static content on the web page at a second web address, determining the point of presence server from the network of point of presence servers that is appropriate for the request, the point of presence server having service metrics more appropriate than service metrics of remaining point of presence servers from the network.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method, comprising:
 receiving a first domain name resolution request originating from a client seeking first content at a first web address, the first web address including a first domain name;   selecting a customer server for the first domain name resolution request from a plurality of customer servers addressable by the first domain name, according to customer server selection rules defined on a per domain name basis, allowing for domain names to be configured independently;   determining an IP address of the customer server;   sending the IP address of the customer server in response to the first domain name resolution request;   receiving a second domain name resolution request originating from the client seeking second content at a second web address, the second web address including a second domain name;   determining service metrics of a set of content servers each addressable by the second web address in the network of content servers, where the network of content servers does not include the customer's plurality of servers;   wherein the customer is a customer of a service for use of the network of content servers managed by the service that delivers content for the customer;   selecting a content server from the set of content servers for the second domain name resolution request, according to content server selection rules, where said rules take into account service metrics of the content server compared to those of other content servers;   determining an IP address of the content server; and   delivering the IP address of the content server in response to the second domain name resolution request.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising determining traffic loads of the plurality of customer servers, wherein said customer server selection rules take into account a traffic load of the customer server compared to those of other customer servers. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 determining load of content servers in the network of content servers;   wherein the selecting the content server from the network of content servers that is appropriate for the request step includes selecting a content server having a latency and a load lower than latency or load of remaining content servers from the network of content servers.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 determining whether the content server includes the second content;   selecting a customer server that includes the second content at when the content server does not include the second content;   retrieving the second content from the customer server that includes the second content; and   caching the second content from the customer server in the content server.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the content server comprises a caching server. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the first content comprises dynamic content and the second content comprises static content. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the first content comprises a web page and the second content comprises content on the web page. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the first content and the second content are both on the same web page. 
     
     
         29 . A method, comprising:
 receiving a first request on a DNS server from a client DNS server to resolve a first domain name, the client DNS server receiving a request from a client for uniform resource locator that includes the first domain name;   selecting a customer server from a plurality of customer servers addressable by the first domain name according to customer server selection rules defined on a per domain name basis, allowing for domain names to be configured independently;   determining an IP address of the customer server;   providing the IP address of the customer server to the client DNS server; receiving a second request from the client DNS server to resolve a second domain name, the client DNS server receiving a request from the client for a uniform resource locator that includes the second domain name;   determining performance metric measurements of a set of content servers each addressable by the second domain name in a network of content servers, where the network of content servers does not include the customer's plurality of servers;   wherein a customer is a customer of a service for use of the network of content servers managed by the service that delivers content for the customer;   selecting a content server from the set of content servers, the content server according to content server selection rules, where said rules take into account performance metrics of the content server compared to those of other content servers; and   delivering an IP address of the content server to the client DNS server.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , determining load measurements of the plurality of customer servers, wherein said customer server selection rules take into account a traffic load of the customer server compared to other customer servers. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the load measurements comprise latency measurements. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the performance metric measurements comprise any of: load CPU and memory measurements, HTTP response measurements, and FTP response measurements. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 29  further comprising:
 in response to receiving the uniform resource locator request at the content server, determining whether the content server includes the data; 
 retrieving data from a customer server when the content server does not include the data; and 
 caching the data within the content server. 
 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the content server comprises a cache server. 
     
     
         35 . A system, comprising:
 one or more DNS servers in a point-of-presence (POP) server network that comprise a processor and a memory storing instructions that configure the one or more DNS servers to receive a first domain name resolution request originating from a client seeking first content at a first web address, the first web address including a first domain name;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to select a customer server that is appropriate for the first domain name resolution request from a plurality of customer servers each addressable by the requested first domain name, according to customer server selection rules defined on a per domain name basis, allowing for domain names to be configured independently;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to determine an IP address of the customer server;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to send the IP address of the customer server in response to the first domain name resolution request;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to receive a second request from the client for second content at a second web address, the second web address including a second domain name;   one or more servers in the POP network that comprise a processor and a memory storing instructions that configure the one or more servers to determine service metrics of a set of content servers each addressable by the second web address in the network of content servers, where the network of content servers does not include the customer's plurality of servers;   wherein the customer is a customer of a service for use of the network of content servers managed by the service that delivers content for the customer;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to select a content server from the set of content servers that is appropriate for the second domain name resolution request, according to content server selection rules, where said rules take into account service metrics of the content server compared to those of other content servers;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to determine an IP address of the content server; and   the one or more DNS servers further configured to deliver delivering the IP address of the content server to the client.   
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , further comprising:
 one or more servers in the POP network that comprise a processor and a memory storing instructions that configure the one or more servers to determine traffic loads of the plurality of customer servers; wherein said customer server selection rules take into account a traffic load of the customer server compared to those of other customer servers.   
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the content server comprises a cache server. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the first content comprises dynamic content and the second content comprises static content. 
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the first content comprises a web page and the second content comprises content on the web page. 
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the first content and the second content are both on the same web page. 
     
     
         41 . A system, comprising:
 one or more DNS servers in the POP network that comprise a processor and a memory storing instructions that configure the one or more DNS servers to receive a first request from a client DNS server to resolve a first domain name, the client DNS server receiving a request from a client for uniform resource locator that includes the first domain name;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to select a customer server from a plurality of customer servers each addressable by the first domain name, according to customer server selection rules defined on a per domain name basis, allowing for each domain name to be configured independently;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to determine an IP address of the customer server;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to provide the IP address of the customer server to the client DNS server;   receiving a second request from the client DNS server to resolve a second domain name, the client DNS server receiving a request from the client for a uniform resource locator that includes the second domain name;   one or more servers in the POP network that comprise a processor and a memory storing instructions that configure the one or more servers to determine performance metric measurements of a set of content servers each addressable by the second domain name in a network of content servers, where the network of content servers does not include the customer's plurality of servers;   wherein a customer is a customer of a service for use of the network of content servers managed by the service that delivers content for the customer;   the one or more DNS servers further configured to select a content server from the set of content servers, the content server according to content server selection rules, where said rules take into account performance metrics of the content server compared to those of other content servers; and   the one or more DNS servers further configured to deliver an IP address of the content server to the client DNS server.   
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 41 , further comprising:
 one or more servers in the POP network that comprise a processor and a memory storing instructions that configure the one or more servers to determine load measurements of the plurality of customer servers; wherein said customer server selection rules take into account a traffic load of the customer server compared to those of other customer servers.   
     
     
         43 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the load measurements comprise latency measurements. 
     
     
         44 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the performance metric measurements comprise any of: load CPU and memory measurements, HTTP response measurements, and FTP response measurements. 
     
     
         45 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the content server comprises a caching server.