About LSAM Request Routing

Auto-Configuring Hierarchy

This system uses multicast neighbor discovery to automatically build a simple cache proxy hierarchy. This system provides basic request aggregation points where the LSAM multicast channel mechanisms can be used to subscribe to high-demand channels. Moreover, we expect this mechanism to be useful to other cache proxy systems, which currently require manual configuration of the proxy hierarchy.

Current manual configuration requires the proxy administrator to manually discover neighboring proxies, evaluate their position within the cache mesh, and add appropriate directives to the proxy configuration files. The LSAM mechanism only requires that both "client" and "exit" proxies are configured to indicate their respective status; all other proxies with the hierarchy are self configuring. The former, "client" proxies, belong to individual users who do not want to accept requests from other proxy servers. The latter, "exit" proxies, do not forward requests to other proxies; these proxies are located near the top of the internet network topology (e.g. a well-connected major backbone carriers), where it is more effective to forward requests directly to the origin server rather than another proxy. These configuration directives are simple, and allow the LSAM proxy to build a basic request routing hierarchy.

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