To optimize network performance, cloud service providers have a number of options available to them, including co-locating production servers in well-connected Internet eXchange (IX) points, deploying data centers in additional locations, or contracting with external Content Distribution Networks (CDNs). Some of these options can be very costly, and some may or may not improve performance significantly. Cloud service providers would clearly like to be able to estimate a priori performance gain of the various options before sinking significant capital expenditures into major infrastructure changes. In this paper we take a measurement-oriented approach and develop methodologies that accurately predict the performance improvement for making major infrastructure changes. Our methodology leverages active Web content, existing large-scale CDN infrastructures, and the SpeedTest network. We then apply our methodology and tools to the problem of locating satellite data centers throughout the...
Angela Wang, Cheng Huang, Jin Li, Keith W. Ross