Content distribution and management: about ContentDirector

Content distribution tool

ContentDirector is a tool that enables you to store content in a central location, such as a data center, and push that data to NetCache appliances located throughout the network.

The following illustration shows a deployment of ContentDirector and the NetCache appliances to which it pushes content.

The components in the previous illustration are briefly described in the following paragraphs.

Content source

The previous illustration shows a Network Appliance® filer in the data center as a back-end storage device for an origin server from which the ContentDirector server can pull content. ContentDirector could also pull data directly from the filer.

ContentDirector server:

The ContentDirector server consists of the following parts:

The core application. The core application initiates content distribution in response to the scheduler or in response to user input from the management console.
A scheduler used to trigger content distribution
A database containing user-provided and discovered configuration data

The ContentDirector Server does the following:

Imports data from a content source
Packages the content for distribution
Pushes that content to a NetCache appliance in a location close to users on which the ContentDirector Agent (CDA), configured as a Group Leader (GL), has been enabled.

NetCache appliances

NetCache appliances on which the CDA is enabled can function in two ways:

Group Leader (GL)
Receives content from the ContentDirector server, pushes the content to NetCache appliances with the CDA enabled that are designated to be group members (GMs), and provides feedback to the ContentDirector server about the job. A NetCache appliance can be designated as a GL, a GM, or a combination GL and GM. The NetCache bandwidth allocation feature can be used to control bandwidth usage between the ContentDirector server and the GL.
Group Member (GM)
Receives the content from the GL and stores it in its cache. Multicast transport can be used for data pushed from GLs to GMs, thereby saving bandwidth.

See Considerations for designating GLs and GMs.

ContentDirector management console

The ContentDirector management console, which is accessible through a Web browser, runs on a client. The client can be close to the ContentDirector server, as shown in the previous illustration, or in a remote office. Through the ContentDirector management console, the content administrator provides instructions for which content is to be pushed and when, and how it is to be managed.

ContentDirector supports user rights. This feature enables a ContentDirector server administrator to set up user rights for different groups. Thereafter, each group can access the ContentDirector management console and push its own content, but not the content of any other groups.

Features of ContentDirector

ContentDirector includes the following features:

The ability to push streaming media and HTTP content.
The ability to set policy-based jobs to move content between the centralized servers to NetCache appliances you identify.
The ability to define logical groupings of NetCache appliances to receive identical content.
The ability to schedule content distribution over a variety of time intervals, including automatic updating and distribution. You can, for example, distribute content at times of nonpeak network usage.
Selective data compression.
Quorum-based policy decisions, enabling you to define the percentage of NetCache appliances that must receive a particular job for the job to be considered successful. Pre-quorum checks detect active caches before job runs.
Integrated IP multicast deployment that enables efficient distribution over satellite links and enterprise networks. This feature includes forward error connection codes.
Versioning functions to ensure that content residing in NetCache appliances is synchronized across multiple NetCache appliances.
The ability to update the NetCache appliances with only the files that were changed, added, and deleted.
Automatic notification of job status (for example, distribution success and location of content) and alerts through e-mail.
Security features to control who can access the ContentDirector server through the client running the ContentDirector management console.
The ability to encrypt data and verify that the content did not change during the transfer.
The ability to add header information on media files that controls the times at which the files will be available to clients.
User-level rights, which provides private views of the ContentDirector workflow by different groups.
Automatic discovery of NetCache appliances running as GLs and GMs.
ContentDirector can be integrated with Global Request Manager (GRM) on NetCache appliances to enable GRM to send content requests to the closest GRM agent appliance that contains the requested content. This redirection combines the speed of prepopulated content and higher data integrity of geographic proximity.

For more information about ContentDirector

See the ContentDirector documentation for details about ContentDirector deployment planning and information about configuring the ContentDirector server and ContentDirector agent.