A live match or popular release can bring viewers online across countries and networks at once. Multiple CDNs give streaming services more reach, capacity, and delivery options when a provider slows down. But switching providers shouldn't create gaps in access control. Teams need to keep legitimate viewers watching, limit unauthorized account sharing, and balance delivery quality with cost.
How Harper supports multi-CDN streaming
Harper gives CDN integrations a shared place to check access rules and revoked tokens. Each provider can consult the unified multi-region service before allowing a protected request, helping enforce the streaming service’s policies whichever CDN a viewer uses. Access logic and data run together in Harper (1ms decision latency), while the CDNs carry the video.
With session tracking connected, Harper can also bring viewing activity from different CDNs into one shared view. The streaming service can use that information to enforce its simultaneous-stream limits. The ban list records which tokens are blocked, while session updates identify ongoing use. This helps prevent switching providers from bypassing account restrictions.
Harper can also help balance delivery costs and performance. Dynamic DNS Optimization uses CDN health, usage, and contract data to adjust traffic weights through your DNS provider. This guides traffic toward suitable delivery paths as conditions change. Player or manifest steering handles any switching needed during playback.
To bring access checks and application logic closer to a new audience, add a region to your cluster in Fabric. Select the region, confirm the change, and Fabric handles provisioning, replication, and regional routing. If a Harper region becomes unavailable, Fabric routes traffic to healthy regions.
Alternatively, building and coordinating access services
A straightforward setup keeps access logic, token bans, and session records in one region, as shown below. CDNs deliver video globally, but live access checks travel back to that region. Deploying the service in more regions reduces latency but adds services and data copies to coordinate.
Redundant servers help keep the service available, and an optional cache speeds data reads. Neither removes the network trip to the serving region. Cached decisions also need to expire or be invalidated when access changes.
Where global coverage adds complexity
Global coverage may call for 12 or more regions, depending on audience locations and measured latency. Two regions can provide redundancy without placing checks near every CDN location. Across the deployment, token bans and session updates must stay in sync, conflicting changes need handling, and interrupted regions must catch up. Otherwise, one region may allow access that another has blocked.
With Harper Fabric, expanding takes just a few clicks: select a region and confirm the deployment. Fabric handles provisioning, replication, routing, and failover, bringing access logic and data closer to the CDN locations serving viewers with next to no effort.
Why Harper matters
Bring access checks closer to viewers, expand in a few clicks, and keep control over access policies and delivery costs.
- Choose where low latency matters. Place access logic and data near the CDN locations serving your audience, shortening the network trip for live checks.
- Expand in a few clicks. Add regions through Fabric as your audience grows, with provisioning, replication, routing, and failover handled for you.
- Protect paid access. Share token bans and connected session activity across CDNs to enforce account policies.
- Balance quality and cost. Use performance, usage, and contract data to inform traffic distribution.
- Keep provider choice. Connect different CDNs to shared application logic instead of rebuilding access policies for each one.
Related solutions
VOD Segment Access Control System (GitHub) is a public Harper template that records subscriber activity and flags unusual request volumes, IP addresses, content access, and session patterns. It provides a starting point for streaming abuse detection, with CDN integration enforcing the resulting decisions.
Token Ban List (PDF) describes shared token revocation checks across CDN providers to help control unauthorized access.
Dynamic DNS Optimization (PDF) explains how performance, usage, and contract data can inform traffic distribution and CDN spending.
Plan for the viewing experience
Connect session starts, ongoing activity, and session endings to the shared service. Define how long an inactive session counts toward the limit and how quickly bans must take effect. Each CDN must enforce the result, including during an active stream. Agree what happens when an access check is unavailable, so the behavior matches your service’s policies.
DNS changes guide later connection choices and may be delayed by caching. They do not automatically move an active stream. Coordinate DNS optimization with player or manifest steering, and keep playback authorization compatible across providers.
Start with one stream and two CDNs
Pilot a representative stream across two providers. Test simultaneous use of one account across both CDNs, token revocation, and legitimate reconnects. Compare playback startup, buffering, delivery cost, and how long access changes take to take effect. Test a CDN switch and a Harper regional outage before expanding.
Bring your CDN mix, account-sharing policies, and priority markets to a Harper streaming workshop. Start with consistent access and measurable delivery performance, then expand.
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