on the issue of proxy-caching and new technologies
I've just read through the 20 or so email messages in the thread regarding the use of proxy-cache traffic on http traffic. I believe DIGEX should be congratulated on their forward exploration of technology. Their creative solutions to problems like this are the spirit that will sustain the Internet. DWDM and huge fiber builds will get us part of the way to handling internet growth, but we need to find ways to utilize upper-layer tweaks to do more with less. -alan
Alan Hannan writes:
DWDM and huge fiber builds will get us part of the way to handling internet growth, but we need to find ways to utilize upper-layer tweaks to do more with less.
-alan
Indeed. (The technical merits of DIGEX's current approach not withstanding) No amount of capacity upgrades will obviate the need for an intelligent architecture for content distribution on the net. Utilization will explode to consume all bandwidth available and in the absence of an elegant architecture will do so rather wastefully. Most sites on the web are currently misdeployed/incorrectly-located on the network. Techniques that prevents unwarranted replication of data and bring the content to the user rather than the user to the content will bring about more efficient use of bandwidth while increasing performance for all users. These need to be complemented with techniques to address the concerns of other constituents, like marketeers. --pushpendra Pushpendra Mohta pushp@cerf.net +1 619 812 3908 TCG CERFnet http://www.cerf.net +1 619 812 3995 (FAX)
Hi Alan: You have moved me to subscribe as a "posting" subscriber Alan Hannan wrote:
I've just read through the 20 or so email messages in the thread regarding the use of proxy-cache traffic on http traffic.
check the archives whenever they are post, I'll bet 100 is closer
I believe DIGEX should be congratulated on their forward exploration of technology. Their creative solutions to problems like this are the spirit that will sustain the Internet.
DWDM and huge fiber builds will get us part of the way to handling internet growth, but we need to find ways to utilize upper-layer tweaks to do more with less.
-alan
So much for fun. First I am a DIGEX customer (one of the ones mentioned in the posting on the related threads). A couple of points: Business/Contractual/Legal 1) DIGEX brought a lot of resources when they were convinced there was a problem. I discovered this over the weekend and it was fixed by Monday afternoon 2) The notification sent out was at best ambiguous. My partner recognized what they were saying and questioned them on it. They (DIGEX) thought our situation was covered (testing??). 3) Clearly my class of service has been changed without any notification. Technical Issues 1) As has been pointed out, the clear beneficiary of this changed is DIGEX. As a non-believer in hit counts, that part of the discussion has been educational. But I think its clear this was done with the hope of increasing backbone throughput. 2) We are the guys with the obsolete proxy (netscape 1.12). Guess what?? It does what we need, and DIGEX was fully aware we were using it before turning on the cache. No testing here. So whoever made the point that they were just letting problems fall out from operational glitches was pretty close. 3) There are clearly experts posting to this thread that think the gain will be marginal and/or there are other ways of accomplishing this goal without the customer impact attendant with this solution. I believe <ANTIFLAME> that most of the emails addressing these and related issues dealt with the validity of doing this with or without notification. </ANTIFLAME> I do not see how the issues above or the bulk of these threads relate to using a new and creative solution. To add one more amen to the chorus of many, I would be much happier congratulating DIGEX on new and creative solutions if they would let their customers know what changes are being made and perhaps even test them a bit better. Doug Denault Safeport Network Services
participants (3)
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alan＠mindvision.com -
Douglas Denault -
Pushpendra Mohta