Secure bandwidth and reduce costs
CDN Manager

SRG already had its own CDN infrastructure with SWISS TXT (caching server plus Internet peering). However, while it can be run economically for a constant base load, this is not the case for sporadically occurring usage peaks. This requires a large CDN provider with the respective capacity reserves. Experience has also shown that while a large number of users need to be served simultaneously during peak times, the volume distributed is low relative to the base load. To date, SRG only had static control over volume distribution between the external and internal CDN, by allocating the various services to them. The CDN Manager will offer more flexible and automated control by dynamically offloading content delivery to one or more CDN providers.

Monitoring dashboard for the SWISS TXT CDN infrastructure.

CDN Manager live dashboard.

BACKGROUND

• For SRG SSR, SWISS TXT runs a separate CDN service with its own Internet gateway for the Swiss market, providing customers with highly available infrastructures at low prices.
• SRG SSR wishes to ensure that the required bandwidth is available for playing media files (video and audio streaming) during brief peak usage periods and major events (e.g. Football World Championships or Olympic Games).
• While its own CDN services can cover the base load cost-effectively, only large external CDN providers can currently do so in the event of usage peaks.
• Until now, SRG SSR has had to decide whether to use the CDN services of SWISS TXT or those of an external CDN provider for each programme.
• SRG SSR mandated SWISS TXT to provide a service that would dynamically and automatically switch between the internal CDN service and external ones. It should also dynamically optimize usage of the SRG SSR gateway without impacting other SRG SSR Internet traffic. 

SWISS TXT CDN statistics.

A glance at the source code of the CDN Manager software.

OBJECTIVES / REQUIREMENTS

• Dynamically shift the load to one or more external CDN services as soon as the threshold of the internal CDN service and/or Internet gateway is reached. 
• No impact on the remaining Internet traffic of SRG SSR.
• A dashboard for monitoring current traffic distribution.
• The traffic thresholds can be set for each CDN service.
• It must be possible to use the CDN Manager for multiple services and clients.
• The CDN Manager for SRG must be completed within eight months.

SOLUTION / PLAN

• SWISS TXT developed a way to measure traffic on the Internet gateway.
• SWISS TXT developed the algorithm necessary to dynamically configure the offload and prioritization of the CDN services.
• The solution consists of multiple components: monitoring the required bandwidth, DNS loadbalancing and traffic offload, dashboard for monitoring traffic distribution, statistics.
• The entire solution is monitored by SWISS TXT (24.7).
• The project is coordinated within SRG SSR.
• Project management and requirement engineering by SWISS TXT.

A glance at the Akamai statistics in the Luna Centre.

BENEFITS

• Optimization of traffic costs, reduced expenditure at SRG SSR level.
• Load optimization on the SRG SSR Internet gateway.
• Dynamic scalability for major events.
• Maximum availability during usage peaks.
• Independence from individual CDN providers.
  
  

  Factsheet IAAS