Publishing-point management for content delivery network

A method for dynamically serving a content object over the Internet to an end user system with a content delivery network (CDN), the method comprising:

• receiving a request to stream the content object to the end user system, wherein:
• the CDN comprises a plurality of points of presence (POPs), which are geographically distributed,
• each of the plurality of POPs comprises a plurality of servers including an edge server, and
• the plurality of POPs, one of the plurality of POPs being a POP;
• assigning the request to the edge server in the POP, which is part of the plurality of POPs;
• correlating the request to a publishing point associated with the content object, wherein the publishing point is part of a plurality of publishing points, wherein each publishing point maps a request for content to a storage location for the content;
• determining whether the publishing point is loaded into the edge server;
• adding the publishing point to the edge server;
• mapping the publishing point of the edge server to the storage location;
• automatically removing a first subset of the plurality of publishing points according to an automated algorithm, wherein the algorithm comprises:
• automatically determining a second subset of publishing points of the plurality of publishing points that are designated as sticky so as to disable the purging function for the second subset of publishing points;
• and
• avoiding removal of the second subset of the plurality of publishing points;
• and
• streaming the content object from the edge server to the end user system.

A method for dynamically serving a content object over the Internet to an end user system, the CDN comprising:

• receiving a request to stream the content object to the end user system, wherein:
• the CDN comprises a plurality of points of presence (POPs), which are geographically distributed,
• each of the plurality of POPs comprises a plurality of servers including an edge server, and
• the plurality of POPs, one of the plurality of POPs being a POP;
• assigning the request to the edge server in the POP, which is part of the plurality of POPs;
• correlating the request to a publishing point associated with the content object, wherein the publishing point is part of the plurality of publishing points;
• determining whether the publishing point is loaded into the edge server;
• automatically adding the publishing point to the edge server;
• mapping the publishing point of the edge server to the storage location for the content object;
• streaming the content object from the edge server to the end user system;
• determining a subset of publishing points that are designated as sticky;
• and
• avoiding removal of the subset of the plurality of publishing points, while automatically removing other of the plurality of publishing points according to an automated algorithm.