Optimal route selection in a content delivery network

A method operative in a content delivery network having a set of edge servers organized into regions, wherein the edge servers provide delivery of content on behalf of participating content providers, and wherein a given content provider origin server may be reached over a set of routes, comprising:

• identifying one or more routes between the edge server and the content provider origin server;
• in response to a request for a given file received at a given edge server, initiating a concurrent download of the given file over each of the routes;
• and
• determining an optimal route between the edge server and the content provider origin server as a function of the concurrent downloads.

A server for use in a content delivery network, comprising:

• a processor, and
• a computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions for performing the following steps:
• initiating a performance metric test on a set of potential routes between the server and a given second server, wherein at least one of the potential routes passes through a server intermediate the server and the given second server, and wherein the performance metric test is a download of a file, and wherein the file is an object being requested by an end user or a test object;
• determining when a given number of bytes of the file have been received over a given one of the potential routes and for terminating the performance metric test with respect to other of the potential routes when the given number of bytes of the file have been received;
• and
• collecting and analyzing data generated as a result of the performance metric test and determining an optimal path between the server and the given second server.

A server for use in a content delivery network, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions for performing the following steps:
• initiating a performance metric test on a set of potential routes between the server and a given second server, wherein at least one of the potential routes passes through a server intermediate the server and the given second server, wherein the performance metric test is initiated if no such test has occurred in a given first time period, if a given second time period has elapsed since a last test, or if a given number of requests for a file have been received at the server machine without a test being run;
• and
• collecting and analyzing data generated as a result of the performance metric test and determining an optimal path between the server and the given second server.