Distributed metric collection for dynamic content delivery network selection using DNS

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving, from a computing device of a user, mapping information that associates a first domain with a plurality of domains corresponding to a plurality of content delivery networks (CDNs) and one or more identifiers of network metric types;
• configuring a web application to include or reference code, wherein the web application is not associated with the first domain;
• transmitting the code to computing devices not associated with the first domain, the code including one or more commands that when executed generate at least one network metric corresponding to at least one of the network metric types;
• receiving network metrics generated by the computing devices, wherein the network metrics were generated based on communications between the computing devices and the plurality of CDNs;
• transforming the network metrics into metric summary data;
• and
• resolving a domain name system (DNS) request for the first domain based at least in part on the metric summary data.

A system comprising:

• a first one or more electronic devices to implement a domain name system (DNS) resolver;
• and
• a second one or more electronic devices to implement a metric collection and analysis (MCA) service, the MCA service including instructions that upon execution cause the MCA service to:
• receive, from a computing device of a user, mapping information that associates a first domain with a plurality of domains corresponding to a plurality of content delivery networks (CDNs);
• configure a web application to include or reference code, wherein the web application is not associated with the first domain;
• transmit the code to computing devices not associated with the first domain, the code including one or more commands that when executed generate at least one network metric corresponding to at least one of the network metric types;
• receive network metrics generated by the computing devices, wherein the network metrics were generated based on communications between the computing devices and the plurality of CDNs;
• transform the network metrics into metric summary data;
• and
• send the metric summary data to a domain name system (DNS) resolver,
• wherein the DNS resolver includes instructions that upon execution cause the DNS resolver to:
• resolve a DNS request for the first domain based at least in part on use of the metric summary data and at least some of the mapping information.