Stenographic marking using network addressing

1. A method of operating a content delivery network (CDN) comprising a plurality of cache nodes, each comprising a processor and stored instructions that cause the processor to cache content for delivery to end user devices, the method comprising:

establishing address translations which translate domain names into network addresses usable by the end user devices for reaching content at the cache nodes, each network address comprising an upper portion configured to address one of the plurality of cache nodes, and a lower portion comprising stenographic information;

responsive to domain name translation requests from the end user devices, providing ones of the network addresses;

receiving content requests transferred by the end user devices that comprise the network addresses;

performing, in one of the plurality of cache nodes, one or more actions based on the stenographic information in the network addresses.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network addresses comprise Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) network addresses, and wherein the lower portion is included in at least a lower 64 bits of the network addresses.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the upper portion of the network addresses comprise at least an upper 64 bits of the network addresses.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the one or more actions based on the stenographic information comprises processing the stenographic information included in the network addresses of the content requests to identify DNS nodes that serviced the domain name translation requests.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the one or more actions based on the stenographic information comprises processing the stenographic information included in the network addresses of the content requests to identify geographic locations associated with the content requests.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing first ones of the network addresses to a first domain name system (DNS) node, the first ones of the network addresses comprising stenographic information selected to identify the first DNS node;

providing second ones of the network addresses to a second DNS node, the second ones of the network addresses comprising stenographic information selected to identify the second DNS node; and

wherein performing the one or more actions based on the stenographic information comprises processing the stenographic information included in the network addresses of the content requests to identify which among the first DNS node and the second DNS node serviced the domain name translation requests.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stenographic information comprises instructions for cache nodes which receive the content requests, and further comprising:

in ones of the cache nodes that receive the content requests, identifying the instructions and responsively performing one or more actions commensurate with the instructions.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the instructions indicate to drop traffic associated with the content requests that indicate the network addresses comprising the stenographic information.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the instructions indicate to log traffic associated with the content requests that indicate the network addresses comprising the stenographic information.

10. A content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of cache nodes, each comprising a processor and stored instructions that cause the processor to cache content for delivery to end user devices, the CDN comprising:

a stenography node comprising a processor and stored instructions configured to cause the processor to establish address translations which translate domain names into network addresses usable by the end user devices to reach content at the cache nodes, each network address comprising an upper portion configured to address one of the plurality of cache nodes, and a lower portion comprising stenographic information;

the stenography node configured to provide the address translations to at least one domain name system (DNS) node that provides ones of the network addresses responsive to domain name translation requests from the end user devices;

at least one of the cache nodes configured to receive content requests transferred by the end user devices that comprise the network addresses, and perform one or more actions based on the stenographic information in the network addresses.

11. The CDN of claim 10 , wherein the network addresses comprise Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) network addresses, and wherein the lower portion is included in at least a lower 64 bits of the network addresses.

12. The CDN of claim 11 , wherein the upper portion of the network addresses comprise at least an upper 64 bits of the network addresses.

13. The CDN of claim 10 , comprising:

the at least one of the cache nodes configured to process the stenographic information included in the network addresses of the content requests to identify DNS nodes that serviced the domain name translation requests.

14. The CDN of claim 10 , comprising:

the at least one of the cache nodes configured to process the stenographic information included in the network addresses of the content requests to identify geographic locations associated with the content requests.

15. The CDN of claim 10 , comprising:

the stenography node configured to provide first ones of the network addresses to a first domain name system (DNS) node, the first ones of the network addresses comprising stenographic information selected to identify the first DNS node;

the stenography node configured to provide second ones of the network addresses to a second DNS node, the second ones of the network addresses comprising stenographic information selected to identify the second DNS node; and

the at least one of the cache nodes configured to process the stenographic information included in the network addresses of the content requests to identify which among the first DNS node and the second DNS node serviced the domain name translation requests.

16. The CDN of claim 10 , wherein the stenographic information comprises instructions for cache nodes which receive the content requests, and further comprising:

the at least one of the cache nodes configured to identify the instructions and responsively perform one or more actions commensurate with the instructions.

17. The CDN of claim 16 , wherein the instructions indicate to drop traffic associated with the content requests that indicate the network addresses comprising the stenographic information.

18. The CDN of claim 16 , wherein the instructions indicate to log traffic associated with the content requests that indicate the network addresses comprising the stenographic information.

19. A method of operating a stenography node of a content delivery network, the stenography node comprising a processor and stored instructions that cause the processor to cache content for delivery to end user devices, the method comprising:

establishing address translations which translate domain names into network addresses used for reaching content at selected cache nodes, each network address comprising an upper portion configured to address a cache node, and a lower portion comprising stenographic information used to distinguish among a plurality of domain name system (DNS) nodes which provide ones of the network addresses responsive to domain name translation requests from the end user devices;

instructing one or more cache nodes to perform one or more actions based on the stenographic information in the network addresses responsive to receiving content requests transferred by the end user devices that comprise the network addresses.

20. The method of claim 10 , wherein the network addresses comprise Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) network addresses, wherein the lower portions of the network addresses comprising stenographic information are included in at least a lower 64 bits of the network addresses, and wherein the upper portions of the network addresses comprise at least an upper 64 bits of the network addresses.