Bill Weihl

The present invention enables a content provider to dynamically assemble content at the edge of the Internet, preferably on content delivery network (CDN) edge servers. Preferably, the content provider leverages an “edge side include” (ESI) markup language that is used to define Web page fragments for dynamic assembly at the edge. Dynamic assembly improves site performance by catching the objects that comprise dynamically generated pages at the edge of the Internet, close to the end user. The… Show more

The present invention enables a content provider to dynamically assemble content at the edge of the Internet, preferably on content delivery network (CDN) edge servers. Preferably, the content provider leverages an “edge side include” (ESI) markup language that is used to define Web page fragments for dynamic assembly at the edge. Dynamic assembly improves site performance by catching the objects that comprise dynamically generated pages at the edge of the Internet, close to the end user. The content provider designs and develops the business logic to form and assemble the pages, for example, by using the ESI language within its development environment. Instead of being assembled by an application/web server in a centralized data center, the application/web server sends a page template and content fragments to a CDN edge server where the page is assembled. Each content fragment can have its own cacheability profile to manage the “freshness” of the content. Once a user requests a page (template), the edge server examines its cache for the included fragments and assembles the page on-the-fly. Show less

A method of and system for secure content delivery. The method is carried out by a content delivery network service provider (CDNSP), which operates a secure CDN. The secure CDN may be a dedicated network or a subset of a larger distributed network that is managed by the service provider. A Web site obtains secure content delivery, preferably as a managed service, by aliasing the site (or given domains) to the CDN. Edge servers are selectively authenticated into the secure CDN before they can… Show more

A method of and system for secure content delivery. The method is carried out by a content delivery network service provider (CDNSP), which operates a secure CDN. The secure CDN may be a dedicated network or a subset of a larger distributed network that is managed by the service provider. A Web site obtains secure content delivery, preferably as a managed service, by aliasing the site (or given domains) to the CDN. Edge servers are selectively authenticated into the secure CDN before they can be used to deliver secure content, and the CDN service provider serves SSL pages over a secure connection on the site's behalf, preferably using an SSL certificate provided by the site. A copy of the customer's SSL certificate resides on the secure edge servers to allow them to serve SSL content on the customer's behalf. A key agent running on the edge server, however, ensures that the copy of the certificate only resides in memory and not on disk. Further, a server that cannot be fully monitored by the CDN service provider removes the certificate from its memory and no longer serves the SSL traffic. Show less