Models for monitoring of streaming server performance

A computer-usable medium having computer readable code stored thereon for causing a device to perform a method of monitoring a streaming media server, said method comprising:

• accessing calibration data for said server, said calibration data characterizing usage of said server's resources under a plurality of different loads including a saturation load, wherein said saturation load causes said server to fail to satisfy a predefined quality-of-service criterion;
• using said calibration data to identify a server resource that reaches its respective limit before the others of said server's resources reach their respective limits as said different loads are increased;
• and
• monitoring said server resource to determine whether said server is approaching said saturation load with said server in service in a content delivery network.