Level 3 supports multiple methods and implementation models for content delivery allowing Web site content to be delivered in a manner that best meets customer business processes. Level 3 Caching and Download Services support standards-based models for delivering content rather than employing proprietary Download content delivery models that require customers to engineer their environment to fit the solution. The primary content delivery models supported are:
Object delivery
The most commonly used method to deliver content such as patches, file downloads, and multimedia content to large audiences. Objects can be tagged for complete control over delivery, authentication, and content freshness. Extended aliases can also be used to address more than one origin server using the same domain. This facilitates brand consistency as end users retrieve content from a customer’s domain regardless of the origin, allowing customers to have multiple servers for redundancy and content-staging purposes.
Total site delivery
The suite of services can be easily configured to serve all resources, like images, ActiveX and Flash for a particular domain name. This requires no modification to the origin server and can often be implemented with no rewriting of HTML.
Secure delivery
Level 3 offers flexible solutions for the delivery of HTTPS content. By off-loading SSL tunnel setup and persistence to the Level 3 CDN, customers can effectively relieve the SSL burden from their Web sites. This not only increases performance, but allows Web servers to handle the delivery of non-cacheable objects such as dynamic content, server-side applications, and database activity. Customers can opt for full integration with the use of a custom SSL certificate that matches their domain, or utilize a more economical shared certificate if they simply require the security of HTTPS.
- Set-up and configuration of Caching and Download service
- Online web-based management portal
- Historical usage reporting and real-time usage monitoring
- Guaranteed performance with third-party Service Level Agreement (SLA) monitoring
- 24/7 NOC Support, online ticket management
Servers are positioned on the edge between end-users and a customer’s website
DNS with Footprint technology Best Distributor Selection (BDS) seamlessly directs users to the best edge server
Best Distributor Selection (BDS)
BDS determines the optimal Level 3 cache for a given end-user (client) at a given point of time.
The decision is based on real-time, dynamic information based on the following:
1) The end-user's location and their network proximity to each CDN node
2) General state of the Internet, including outages, congestion, and peering problems
3) The load characteristics of the CDN
Because these decisions must be made instantaneously, network and CDN state information is continuously collected and stored in high performance tables.
Caching and Download PDF