A hierarchical naming system for scalable content distribution in large networks

The Internet has become a platform for delivering and consuming content. Additionally, mobile devices consume a significant chunk of content, which poses a unique challenge for provisioning efficient content delivery and is not addressed in contemporary infrastructures. In this paper, we present a naming system that provides Internet-scale content distribution service with a particular emphasis on content delivery across mobile devices. The basis of the system is a highly flexible and expressive content naming scheme. It is flexible in expressing diverse application requirements. To achieve fast name resolution, we design a two-level indexing network using Distributed Hash Table (DHT). This architecture is open and scalable. It utilizes a key-value storage system built on DHT. Our content delivery protocol relies on content routers to balance the load of delivering content and to throttle denial-of-service attacks. The feasibility of the system is analyzed based on a realistic modeling of the Internet. Simulation studies are performed to verify its usefulness and performance.