Policy management for content storage in content delivery networks

A method using one or more computing devices for processing content objects with a content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of geographically distributed points of presence (POPs), the method performed by the one or more computing devices comprising:

• receiving selection of a policy from a plurality of policies, wherein the plurality of policies define processes to perform on content objects stored at the CDN, wherein each policy includes an applicability criteria and a storage disposition;
• receiving, at the CDN, metadata characterizing a content object, a requester of the content object and/or a provider of the content object;
• receiving the content object for storage at the CDN;
• determining a first policy including a first applicability criteria and a second policy including a second applicability criteria are applicable to the content object through analysis of the metadata and/or the applicability criteria wherein the first applicability criteria indicates that the first policy is applicable to the entire CDN and the second applicability criteria indicates that the second policy is applicable to a POP within the CDN;
• determining a hierarchy, the hierarchy identifying a priority of one of the first policy and the second policy over the other policy of the first policy and the second policy, wherein the hierarchy is based at least in part on the first applicability criteria and the second applicability criteria;
• resolving overlap between the first policy and the second policy found applicable to the content object based on the hierarchy;
• and
• performing processing of the resolved first and second policies on the content object.

A content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of geographically distributed points of presence (POPs) for processing content objects, the CDN comprising two or more servers and one or more non-transitory memory devices containing instructions that when executed by the two or more servers performs the steps of:

• receiving selection of a policy from a plurality of policies, wherein the plurality of policies define processes to perform on content objects stored at the CDN, wherein each policy includes an applicability criteria and a storage disposition;
• receiving, at the CDN, metadata characterizing a content object, a requester of the content object and/or a provider of the content object;
• receiving the content object for storage at the CDN;
• determining a first policy including a first applicability criteria and a second policy including a second applicability criteria are applicable to the content object through analysis of the metadata and/or the applicability criteria, wherein the first applicability criteria indicates that the first policy is applicable to the entire CDN and the second applicability criteria indicates that the second policy is applicable to a POP within the CDN;
• determining a hierarchy, the hierarchy identifying a priority of one of the first policy and the second policy over the other policy of the first policy and the second policy, wherein the hierarchy is based at least in part on the first applicability criteria and the second applicability criteria;
• resolving overlap between the first policy and the second policy found applicable to the content object based on the hierarchy;
• and
• performing processing of the resolved first and second policies on the content object.