Simultaneous download of application file portions

A method comprising:

• partitioning an application file into multiple file portions so that a size of each of the multiple file portions is below a predetermined threshold;
• storing the multiple file portions at one or more server computers, each of the multiple file portions being associated with a network address from which a client device downloads the associated file portion;
• using at least one processor, generating configuration information that is used by the client device to determine the network address for each of the multiple file portions, the configuration information indicating a partition quantity for the multiple file portions into which the application file is partitioned, and indicating a hostname for a server computer;
• and
• storing the configuration information at the server computer;
• wherein the determining of a network address for a first file portion of the multiple file portions comprising:
• determining a hostname for a first server computer based on the configuration information;
• determining a path for the first file portion based on the configuration information;
• and generating the network address by combining the hostname and the path;
• wherein the determining of the hostname for the first server computer comprising:
• determining a sequence number for the first file portion;
• and determining the hostname for the first server computer based on a hash table of server computer hostnames by using the sequence number as input to a hash function for the hash table.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• a communication module to receive configuration information for downloading an application file, the configuration information indicating a partition quantity indicating a number of file portions into which the application file is partitioned at one or more server computers;
• a download module to determine network addresses for the multiple file portions based on the configuration information, to issue a request for each of the multiple file portions based on the network addresses, the requests being issued over multiple network connections, and to receive the multiple the portions over the multiple network connections, at least two of the multiple file portions being received simultaneously over separate ones of the multiple network connections;
• and
• a computing module to form the application file by combining the received multiple file portions;
• wherein the download module determining the network address for a first file portion of the multiple file portions by:
• determining a hostname for a first server computer based on the configuration information;
• determining a path for the first file portion based on the configuration information;
• and generating the network address by combining the hostname and the path;
• wherein the download module determining the hostname for the first server computer by:
• determining a sequence number for the first file portion;
• and determining the hostname for the first server computer based on a hash table of server computer hostnames by using the sequence number as input to a hash function for the hash table.