Method and apparatus for balancing the process load on network servers according to network and serve based policies

A method for routing requests for data objects from a plurality of clients comprising the steps of:

• receiving a request for a data object from one of said plurality of clients;
• providing a plurality of content servers capable of serving data objects, wherein each of said plurality of content servers are comprised of a plurality of IP addresses that each route data objects from said content servers along a different path;
• determining a best server from said plurality of content servers according to a policy;
• identifying a plurality of routes from said client to said best server;
• determining a time to traverse each of said plurality of routes;
• selecting one of said routes having the shortest time to traverse;
• and
• informing said client of one of said plurality of IP addresses associated with the best server that directs content to the client, from the best server, along said route.

A method for routing information from a plurality of clients comprising the steps of:

• receiving a request for a data object from one of a plurality of clients;
• determining a best server from said plurality of content servers according to a policy associated with a packet networking environment;
• determining one of a plurality of routes from said requesting client to said best server, said route having the shortest time to traverse;
• and
• relaying said request back to said client, wherein said request is comprised of one of a plurality of IP addresses associated with said best server that directs content corresponding to the clients request to the client along said route.

A system for routing requests for data objects from a plurality of clients comprising:

• plurality of content servers that serve said data objects, each of said plurality of content servers comprising a plurality of IP addresses;
• and
• a director component that identifies a least loaded server based upon a policy that:
• selects said least loaded server from one of said plurality of servers;
• selects one of a plurality of routes from a requesting client to said least loaded server, wherein said route has the shortest time to traverse;
• and
• identifies an IP address associated with the least loaded server that directs content to the client along said route.

A method of routing requests for data objects from a plurality of clients

• comprising the steps of:
• providing a plurality of content servers that serve said data objects;
• and
• routing said requests for data objects back to a requesting client for subsequent transmission to one of said plurality of servers, wherein each of said requests is comprised of one of a plurality of IP addresses associated with said content server that directs content corresponding to the client's request from said content server along a route having the shortest time to traverse.