A network includes a cache server and a network aware server that operates to determine an optimization between a cost of retrieving content from a communication network and a cost of caching content at the cache server. The optimization is determined as a minimum of a sum of a transit cost, a backbone cost, and a caching cost. The transit cost includes a money cost per data unit. The backbone cost includes a money cost per data unit and time unit. The caching cost includes a money cost per server unit. In response to determining the optimization, the network aware server sends a content identifier to the cache server, and the cache server receives the content identifier, determines a source of a content item, and if the source is the same as the content identifier, then cache the content item.