Akamai-GRN
The HTTP Akamai-GRN response header is an unofficial header containing a unique request identifier assigned by Akamai's edge network. GRN stands for Global Request Number.
Usage
Akamai generates a GRN value at the edge when the behavior is enabled. Returning the value in a response header is opt-in. The Global Request Number behavior must be enabled in Property Manager with the response header output option, and the header name is configurable, with Akamai-GRN the typical choice. The header carries the identifier back in the response, giving operators a way to trace a specific request through Akamai's infrastructure.
The primary use case is support ticket correlation. When troubleshooting delivery issues, providing the GRN value to Akamai support allows their team to locate the exact request in internal logs. Akamai documents the value for logging and debugging and exposes it as a Property Manager variable, making server-side log correlation possible without depending on application-level tracing.
Values
Request identifier
The value is a dot-separated string containing four
components, in the same format as Akamai error
reference strings. Akamai documents no component
semantics, and the observed shape reads as a version
or type indicator (typically 0), a hex-encoded
server identifier, a Unix timestamp marking when the
edge processed the request, and a hex request
sequence number.
The entire value is opaque from the client's perspective. Parsing the individual components is not necessary for debugging purposes. The full string is the correlation token.
Example
A response from a website served through Akamai's edge
network includes the GRN as a dot-separated string. The
hex segment 08a7cb17 identifies the edge server, the
timestamp 1771389547 records when the request was
handled, and c1005fe is the request sequence number.
Akamai-GRN: 0.08a7cb17.1771389547.c1005fe
A different request to another Akamai-served property produces a distinct GRN. The longer fourth segment in this value reflects a higher sequence number on a different edge server.
Akamai-GRN: 0.1d6b3017.1764840456.2c1914e3
When contacting Akamai support or searching log delivery exports, the full GRN string is the value to provide.