Scaled domain name service

A content delivery network (CDN) for delivering content to computing devices, the CDN comprising:

• a plurality of points of presence (POPs) distributed geographically with respect to each other, each of the plurality of POPs comprising a plurality of content caches;
• a domain name service (DNS) to assist in resolving addresses used for delivering content, wherein:
• the DNS analyzes a first parameter in a first DNS request to return a first IP address to a first computing device,
• the DNS analyzes a second parameter in a second DNS request to return a second IP address to a second computing device, the first and second parameters being different,
• the first and second DNS requests are for a content object,
• the DNS determines popularity of the content object,
• the first and second IP addresses are selected from a plurality of IP addresses as a function of popularity,
• the first and second IP addresses result in the CDN serving the content object from two different content caches of the plurality of content caches, and
• the plurality of IP addresses are arranged in a hierarchy where selection of IP addresses higher in the hierarchy result in less loading of content caching functionality in the CDN.

A content delivery network (CDN) for delivering content to computing devices, the CDN comprising:

• a plurality of points of presence (POPs) distributed geographically with respect to each other, each of the plurality of POPs comprising a plurality of content caches;
• a domain name service (DNS) to assist in resolving addresses used for delivering content, wherein:
• the DNS analyzes a first parameter in a first DNS request to return a first IP address to a first computing device,
• the DNS analyzes a second parameter in a second DNS request to return a second IP address to a second computing device, the first and second parameters being different,
• the first and second DNS requests are for a content object,
• the DNS determines popularity of the content object,
• the first and second IP addresses are selected from a plurality of IP addresses as a function of popularity and as a function of resource availability, client information or user information, and
• the first and second IP addresses result in the CDN serving the content object from two different content caches of the plurality of content caches.