Importance

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Abstract

The present invention is a system and method for providing server selection for mirrored sites. In one embodiment, a user requests an address via a local name service (LNS), and the local name service requests the address from a server, examples of which include an authoritative name server, and a Optimizer Name Server (ONS). If the ONS has already calculated a best route which applies to this user, and a predetermined time applying to the best route has not yet expired, then the ONS replies to the user with the best route server. In one embodiment, the best route is determined by having the ONS server request from all the mirrored servers the round trip time to the LNS. This is accomplished by having each mirrored server respond to the LNS with a name query. In response, the LNS replies with an error message. The round trip time is measured from the time the name query was sent to the time the error message was received. Each mirrored server then sends the measured round trip time to the ONS. If, however, the best route has not been determined or the predetermined time for the best route has expired, then the ONS replies to the user via a selection scheme, such as a round robin scheme, and also initiates a best route determination to determine which is the best route for this user.

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First Claim