On the World Wide Web, speed and efficiency are vital. Users have little patience for slow web pages, while network administrators want to make the most of their available bandwidth. A properly designed web cache reduces network traffic and improves access times to popular web sites--a boon to network administrators and web users alike.

Web Caching hands you all the technical information you need to design, deploy, and operate an effective web caching service. It starts with the basics of how web caching works, from the HTTP headers that govern cachability to cache validation and replacement algorithms.

Topics covered in this book include:

• Designing an effective cache solution
• Configuring web browsers to use a cache
• Setting up a collection of caches that can talk to each other
• Configuring an interception cache or proxy
• Monitoring and fine-tuning the performance of a cache
• Configuring web servers to cooperate with web caches
• Benchmarking cache products

The book also covers the important political aspects of web caching, including privacy, intellectual property, and security issues.

Internet service providers, large corporations, or educational institutions--in short, any network that provides connectivity to a wide variety of users--can reap enormous benefit from running a well-tuned web caching service. Web Caching shows you how to do it right.

Average Customer Review: ( 9 customer reviews )
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After reading Web Caching, I soon learned that there was more to the topic than meets the eye. The chapter on politics of caching makes for interesting reading no matter who you are on the web; covering topics such as copyright, privacy and trust, offensive content and maintaining content integrity.

I also learned more about just how important caching is to the web, which convinced me that I really should make my web pages as cache friendly as possible. Not only does the creation of cache friendly pages speed up the delivery of content, but it can also reduce the cost of hosting individual web sites!

As you can imagine, there is a lot of discussion in the book about the communications between server and browser that many of us do not see. Most of this discussion focuses on the use of HTTP headers, but there is little discussion about using various scripting technologies to over-ride the default headers that are used by the server. Even an Appendix chapter to compliment the Perl example given would have been nice, as not everyone has access to their server's settings or knows how to use their language of choice to generate server headers.

All in all Web Caching is an interesting book to read as it certainly makes you think about the issues surrounding the subject. I can't help feeling however that this book was written mainly for the server administrators, as practical examples for those that have no direct control of the server are somewhat lacking...

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Not Quite What I Had HopedAug 30, 2001

If you want a book that defines the lingo of web caching, then this is the book for you. It goes into great detail on discussing the things that a good sysadmin should think about when choosing and installing a caching server. However, if you are looking for a reference to help you actually implement the things discussed in this book, then you are sadly mistaken. I was hopeing, at the very least, to have greater information and examples about implementing "Squid," the most popular open source proxy caching server for web clients. I mean after all this book is written by one of the top developers for Squid, Duane Wessels. I do give this book 3 stars though because as a unix/linux sysadmin, many of the ideas and issues discussed in this book merit great consideration. I was just hopeing for more detailed information and examples on how to get these ideas implemented.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

A must readDec 30, 2001

If you are looking for a configuration for the Squid Proxy Server, this is not the book for you; if you are looking for an insightful examination of the concepts, configurations and conflicts that surround the topic of content caching, read on.

Mr. Wessels book examines a number of different aspects of Web Caching, from the scope and syntax of basic cache control messages available in .../1.0 and ..../1.1 to the legal issues that surround the storage of Web objects in cache servers. This book is a must read, for Web designers and system administrators.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

Not Quite What I Had HopedAug 30, 2001

If you want a book that defines the lingo of web caching, then this is the book for you. It goes into great detail on discussing the things that a good sysadmin should think about when choosing and installing a caching server. However, if you are looking for a reference to help you actually implement the things discussed in this book, then you are sadly mistaken. I was hopeing, at the very least, to have greater information and examples about implementing "Squid," the most popular open source proxy caching server for web clients. I mean after all this book is written by one of the top developers for Squid, Duane Wessels. I do give this book 3 stars though because as a unix/linux sysadmin, many of the ideas and issues discussed in this book merit great consideration. I was just hopeing for more detailed information and examples on how to get these ideas implemented.

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