Revision as of 06:23, 5 March 2011

Fahim Rahman

Introduction

Content Distribution Networks (CDN) have increased their position as a vital distributed system to enhance the use of the internet, as applications and media streaming increase in demand with time. A CDN is a distributed system of computers containing copies of data at various points within a network. This aids in maximizing bandwidth for users to access data from different points within the network. The issue of latency is relieved in terms of how an application or data transfer behaves, as the position of these servers tends to be closer to any group of individual users. At its simplest makeup, a CDN is a mirroring mechanism solving part of the last mile issue to ensure a positive user experience when it comes to streaming media or using a web-based application.

Content and associated applications are dictated on the internet by the cost shouldered by the publisher. An individual publisher, or service provider, can reach a large audience by having the funding to administer the combination of load-balanced servers and fast network connections. This can be a significant barrier to entry for a smaller, unfunded service provider. Popularity and trends on the internet can be measured in a wave formation. A small website can experience something referred to as the “Slashdot” effect, where a certain website will experience a load of traffic all at once, as the wave of popularity comes in. Given that many small-time providers of content are not prepared for this kind of popularity, an unintended downtime will be experienced. The levels of traffic are simply unsustainable to the smaller provider. A plausible solution for this issue lies within a content distribution network.

Mirroring has presented itself as a natural solution to provide static content. This requires a voluntary effort with people using their own servers and networks to lend a hand to a provider perceived with value that they want to support. Peer to peer networks and file sharing also displays the effort individual users are willing to put forth to distribute this valued content. The sustainability of this effort is questionable given that it requires on the value proposition to be high enough among a user base with resources to spare. This paper will explore in detail two specific content distribution mechanisms; Coral-CDN, a publicly available resource and Akamai Technologies, a commercial solution. Many other CDNs are available out there, but these two solutions will be explored in detail. To be revealed will be their general approach (section 2), their technical approach (section 3), and the user experience (section 4). A discussion will follow, highlighting issues that each solution experiences and needs to consider for the future (section 5) as well as a conclusion on the CDN space as it relates to the use of the internet (section 6).

Systems/Programs in the Space

Give an overview of the area you are examining. What systems/programs are out there?

Evaluated Systems/Programs

Describe the systems individually here - their key properties, etc. Use subsections to describe different implementations if you wish. Briefly explain why you made the selections you did.

Experiences/Comparison (multiple sections)

In multiple sections, describe what you learned.

Discussion

What was interesting? What was surprising? Here you can go out on tangents relating to your work

Conclusion

Summarize the report, point to future work.

References

Globally distributed content delivery (Akamai) - Accessed Feb. 10, 2011

Coral-CDN paper - Accessed Feb. 18, 2011

The Slashdot Effect (Wikipedia) - Accessed Feb. 24, 2011

Akamai - Why the Edge? - Accessed Feb. 25, 2011

How to build your own CDN... - Accessed Feb 24, 2011

The Design of CoralCDN - Accessed Feb 27, 2011

Akamai - State of the Internet - Accessed January 25, 2011

Akamai - Online Video Publishers - Accessed February 28, 2011

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 =Introduction=
-Describe the system(s) that you examined or compared.  Why did you choose them?  Be sure to specify a thesis that you argue in the rest of the document.  Since this is a report the thesis may be relatively weak; however, an appropriate thesis will help the reader understand why did what you did and why you wrote what you wrote.
+Content Distribution Networks (CDN) have increased their position as a vital distributed system to enhance the use of the internet, as applications and media streaming increase in demand with time.  A CDN is a distributed system of computers containing copies of data at various points within a network.  This aids in maximizing bandwidth for users to access data from different points within the network.  The issue of latency is relieved in terms of how an application or data transfer behaves, as the position of these servers tends to be closer to any group of individual users.  At its simplest makeup, a CDN is a mirroring mechanism solving part of the last mile issue to ensure a positive user experience when it comes to streaming media or using a web-based application.
-End with a paragraph outlining the rest of the document.
+Content and associated applications are dictated on the internet by the cost shouldered by the publisher.  An individual publisher, or service provider, can reach a large audience by having the funding to administer the combination of load-balanced servers and fast network connections.  This can be a significant barrier to entry for a smaller, unfunded service provider.  Popularity and trends on the internet can be measured in a wave formation.  A small website can experience something referred to as the “Slashdot” effect, where a certain website will experience a load of traffic all at once, as the wave of popularity comes in.  Given that many small-time providers of content are not prepared for this kind of popularity, an unintended downtime will be experienced.  The levels of traffic are simply unsustainable to the smaller provider.  A plausible solution for this issue lies within a content distribution network.
-Be sure to change the titles of the following sections to match the structure of your paper.  In particular, please try to make them less generic.  What follows is just a suggestion; the document will be evaluated in part on the quality of writing, and good writing sometimes requires some flexibility.
+Mirroring has presented itself as a natural solution to provide static content.  This requires a voluntary effort with people using their own servers and networks to lend a hand to a provider perceived with value that they want to support.  Peer to peer networks and file sharing also displays the effort individual users are willing to put forth to distribute this valued content.  The sustainability of this effort is questionable given that it requires on the value proposition to be high enough among a user base with resources to spare.
+This paper will explore in detail two specific content distribution mechanisms; Coral-CDN, a publicly available resource and Akamai Technologies, a commercial solution.  Many other CDNs are available out there, but these two solutions will be explored in detail.  To be revealed will be their general approach (section 2), their technical approach (section 3), and the user experience (section 4).  A discussion will follow, highlighting issues that each solution experiences and needs to consider for the future (section 5) as well as a conclusion on the CDN space as it relates to the use of the internet (section 6).
 =Systems/Programs in the Space=