NeTS-NBD: Next-Generation Content Delivery Networks: Algorithmic and Architectural Challenges

如果互联网要实现其成为下一个伟大的通信媒介的承诺，我们需要构建内容交付网络（简称CDN），以高性能、无限可扩展性和低成本的方式向最终用户交付Web和流媒体内容。CDN的核心是一组核心算法，这些算法将网络和互联网作为一个整体进行感知，有效地将内容从其源路由到边缘服务器，并最终将内容从各自的最佳边缘服务器提供给最终用户。该项目为应对设计下一代CDN的重大挑战奠定了必要的科学基础。 具体而言，该项目预计将做出以下主要研究贡献：（1）CDN设计中成本的精确模型和成本/性能权衡的精确表征，（2）用于核心CDN功能的新颖算法，其可证明是高性能、可扩展和成本有效的，（3）使用从因特网上的数百个Vantage点收集的大量数据集对所提出的算法进行经验验证，以及（4）将部分研究成果向工业界进行技术转让。除了研究之外，该项目预计还将做出以下主要教育贡献：（1）提供关于构建大规模分布式系统（如CDN）的课程，这些课程将学术研究和商业系统构建的想法汇集在一起并交叉传播，以及（2）指导和培训研究生和本科生尖端分布式系统技术。

If the Internet is to fulfill its promise of being the next great communication medium, we need to build content delivery networks (CDNs, for short) that deliver web and streaming content to end-users with high performance, infinite scalability, and low cost. At the very heart of a CDN is a core set of algorithms that sense the network and the internet as whole, efficiently routes content from its source to edge servers, and finally serves the content to end-users from their respective optimal edge servers. This project builds the scientific foundation necessary to meet the significant challenges of designing a next-generation CDN. Specifically, the project expects to make the following major research contributions: (1) accurate models for costs and a precise characterization of the cost/performance tradeoffs in CDN design, (2) novel algorithms for core CDN functionalities that are provably high performing, scalable, and cost-effective, (3) empirical validation of the proposed algorithms using extensive data sets collected from hundreds of vantage points on the internet, and (4) technology transfer of some of the fruits of the research to industry. In addition to research, the project is expected make the following major educational contributions: (1) course offering on building large-scale distributed systems (such as CDNs) that bring together and cross-pollinate ideas from both academic research and commercial system building, and (2) mentoring and training of graduate and undergraduate students in cutting-edge distributed system technologies.