RFC 3568 (rfc3568) - Page 2 of 19


Known Content Network (CN) Request-Routing Mechanisms



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



RFC 3568          Known CN Request-Routing Mechanisms          July 2003


   4.  Application-Layer Request-Routing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
       4.1.  Header Inspection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
             4.1.1.  URL-Based Request-Routing. . . . . . . . . . . 8
             4.1.2.  Header-Based Request-Routing . . . . . . . . . 9
             4.1.3.  Site-Specific Identifiers. . . . . . . . . . .10
       4.2.  Content Modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
             4.2.1.  A-priori URL Rewriting . . . . . . . . . . . .11
             4.2.2.  On-Demand URL Rewriting. . . . . . . . . . . .11
             4.2.3.  Content Modification Limitations . . . . . . .11
   5.  Combination of Multiple Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
   6.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
   7.  Additional Authors and Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . .12
   A.  Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
       A.1.  Proximity Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
             A.1.1.  Active Probing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
             A.1.2.  Metric Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
             A.1.3.  Surrogate Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
   8.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
   9.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
   10. Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . .17
   11. Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
   12. Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

1.  Introduction

   This document provides a summary of known request routing techniques
   that are used by the industry before December 2000.  Request routing
   techniques are generally used to direct client requests to surrogates
   based on various policies and a possible set of metrics.  The task of
   directing clients' requests to surrogates is also called
   Request-Routing, Content Routing or Content Redirection.

   Request-Routing techniques are commonly used in Content Networks
   (also known as Content Delivery Networks) [8].  Content Networks
   include network infrastructure that exists in layers 4 through 7.
   Content Networks deal with the routing and forwarding of requests and
   responses for content. Content Networks rely on layer 7 protocols
   such as HTTP [4] for transport.

   Request-Routing techniques are generally used to direct client
   requests for objects to a surrogate or a set of surrogates that could
   best serve that content.  Request-Routing mechanisms could be used to
   direct client requests to surrogates that are within a Content
   Network (CN) [8].







Barbir, et al.               Informational