LAYERED REQUEST PROCESSING WITH REDIRECTION AND DELEGATION IN A CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK (CDN)

In a content delivery network (CDN) a method includes: receiving a request for a CDN service of a first type, wherein a CDN service of the first type defines a fixed number of configurable layers of request processing, sequentially from a first layer to a last layer; and processing the request, starting at the first layer, the processing being based on a modifiable runtime environment, the processing continuing conditionally through each of the layers in turn until either the request is terminated by one of the layers or the last layer processes the request. A layer may cause some of the processing of a request to be handled by another service. The CDN service may be selected from: delivery services, collector services, reducer services, rendezvous services, configuration services, and control services.