Dynamic seamless handover of video servers

Management of content servers enables to lower the probability of congestion and overload situations in the network as well as dealing with such situations if they occur. Hence the overall quality of media delivery experienced by the end users is improved. In this paper we propose an integrated system for adapting the content servers that is capable of analyzing current network conditions (fault reporting) and providing suggestions to solve potential issues. The system is able to adjust content provisioning and improve the content server selection process; however, the most innovative area of the system is the seamless handover mechanism of on-going connections that allows for on-the-fly switching of content source without noticeable disruptions in the content delivery. The proposed seamless handover solutions for two popular protocols for video delivery, namely HTTP and RTSP/RTP, are examined and the results of conducted tests are provided.