Deterministic traffic management in an anycast network

A method comprising:

• providing a network with a plurality of points-of-presence (PoPs) and a plurality of Domain Name System (DNS) servers;
• advertising a common first address defined up to a first address prefix from each PoP of the plurality of PoPs, said advertising comprising sending the common first address to network routers adjacent to each of the PoPs;
• resolving a plurality of DNS queries at each DNS server of the plurality of DNS servers to a set of second addresses prior to advertising the set of second addresses from the plurality of PoPs;
• routing a first plurality of requests directed to the set of second addresses based on routing or forwarding tables of network routers comprising a first entry providing the common first address as a cover route for each second address of the set of second addresses as a result of said advertising of the common first address prior to advertising the set of second addresses from the plurality of PoPs, wherein each second address comprises a first part that spans the first address prefix and that exactly matches a corresponding part of the common first address, and a second part coming after the first address prefix that is different from other second addresses of the set of second addresses;
• and
• deterministically shifting a specific amount of traffic from a first PoP to a second PoP of the plurality of PoPs in response to (i) advertising a particular second address, that is associated with the second PoP, from the second PoP with the first part of the particular second address spanning the first address prefix and matching the corresponding part of the common first address, with the second part of the particular second address coming after the first address prefix differing from the second part of other second addresses of the set of second addresses, and with a second address prefix that is larger than the first address prefix, and (ii) routing to the second PoP, instead of the first PoP, a second plurality of requests, originating from a network location that is closer to the first PoP than the second PoP, based on a second entry in the routing or forwarding tables created as a result of said advertising the particular second address, and based on the second entry taking precedence over the first entry due to the second address prefix of the particular second address being larger than the first address prefix of the common first address.

A distributed network comprising:

• a plurality of points-of-presence (PoPs) with each PoP comprising:
• at least one server providing clients access to a common content or service;
• a gateway router advertising addressing to neighboring network routers;
• and
• wherein each gateway router of the plurality of PoPs advertises (i) a common first address with a first address prefix and (ii) a different second address from a set of second addresses, wherein each second address from the set of second addresses is within the first address prefix of the common first address, and has a first part that spans the first address prefix and that exactly matches a corresponding part of the common first address, and a second part that comes after the first address prefix and that is different from other second addresses of the set of second addresses;
• and
• a plurality of Domain Name System (DNS) servers with each DNS server being geographically proximate to one of the plurality of PoPs, wherein the plurality of DNS servers comprises:
• a particular DNS server geographically proximate to a first PoP of the plurality of PoPs, the particular DNS server comprising:
• (i) a first set of records resolving a plurality of DNS queries to the common first address in response to a non-deterministic distribution of traffic to the plurality of PoPs;
• and
• (ii) a different second set of records resolving a set of the plurality of DNS queries to the different second address advertised from the gateway router of a second PoP of the plurality of PoPs in response to overriding the non-deterministic distribution of traffic and shifting a deterministic amount of load from the first PoP to the second PoP.