Strategies for configuring a server-based information-transmission infrastructure

A method for configuring infrastructure used to transmit information to client modules, comprising:

• determining at least one requirement of the infrastructure;
• determining whether said at least one requirement can be satisfied based on whether the following equation is satisfied:
• I
• ⇀
• ·
• r
• ⇀
• =
• ∑
• i
• =
• 1
• n
• ⁢
• ⁢
• I
• i
• ⁢
• r
• i
• ≤
• 1
• ,
• where {right arrow over (I)} defines an input cost fraction vector and {right arrow over (r)} defines a replication constant vector;
• designing, if said at least one requirement can be satisfied, an infrastructure which satisfies said at least one requirement;
• and
• providing the infrastructure which satisfies said at least one requirement.

A method for configuring infrastructure used to transmit information to client modules, comprising:

• determining at least one requirement of the infrastructure;
• determining, if said at least one requirement can be satisfied, a number m of information-transmission modules that should be provided by the infrastructure based on the following equation:
• m=c(EV(user)),
• where EV(user) defines an expected output cost fraction for an individual user, and c defines an expected number of client modules;
• and
• providing the infrastructure that includes said number of information-transmission modules.

A method for configuring infrastructure used to transmit information to client modules, comprising:

• specifying a collection of services to be provided by a defined number of information-transmission modules;
• specifying replication information that defines how the services are to be replicated among the information-transmission modules;
• assigning, based on the replication information, the services to the information-transmission modules in a non-correlated manner;
• and
• providing an infrastructure that allocates services to the information-transmission modules in a manner specified by said assigning.

A method for configuring infrastructure used to transmit information to client modules, comprising:

• specifying a collection of services to be provided by a defined number of information-transmission modules;
• determining a number m of information-transmission modules that should be provided to handle the services;
• assigning the services to the information-transmission modules based on replication information which defines how the services should be distributed among the information-transmission modules;
• and
• providing an infrastructure that allocates the services to the information-transmission modules based on the assigning, wherein all of the information-transmission modules are actively deployed at the same time, and wherein the replication information defines a degree of backup capacity providing by the infrastructure to handle the failure of parts of the infrastructure.

A method for configuring a system for distributing media services to a plurality of client modules, comprising:

• providing a configuration tool;
• using the configuration tool to compute a number of server modules that should be used to provide the services to the client modules;
• and
• using the configuration tool to assign the services to respective server modules.

A configuration tool for configuring a system for distributing media services to a plurality of client modules, comprising:

• input means to receive a plurality of input parameters regarding the system;
• scaling calculation means for computing a number of server modules that should be used to provide the services to the client modules, based on the input parameters;
• assignment calculation means for assigning the services to respective server modules, based on the input parameters;
• and
• output means for providing output results from the scaling calculation means and the assignment calculation means.