Muhammad Shafiq Bin Hamid 169443

SKR4402 Client - Server Computing

Pn. Raja Azlina Raja Mahmood

Individual Assignment 2 Question:

What is caching proxy and load-balancing proxy and why are they important?
Discuss the implementation of one of these proxies (pick one), with diagrams and references as well.
What is load-balancing proxy?
Load-balancing proxy is a server or device that balances inbound requests across two or more web
servers to spread the load.
Why it is important?
In nowadays always-connected environment, everyone expects their website to be up and performing
well all of the time, even in times of high traffic network.
Load balancing proxy will help to achieve these goals and improve the uptime and performance of a
website to ensure reliability for users.

Caching proxy (Web Proxy Caching)

What is caching proxy?
A function of a proxy server that caches retrieved Web pages on the server's hard disk so that the page
can be quickly retrieved by the same or a different user the next time that page is requested.
Why it is important?
Caching proxy eases bandwidth requirements and reduces delays that are inherent in a heavily
trafficked, Internet-connected network. Because the page is stored locally on the proxy server, the
page is delivered to the next request at local network speeds. The proxy cache also is advantageous
when browsing multiple pages of the same Web site. The proxy cache also stores all of the images and
sub-files for the visited pages, so if the user jumps to a new page within the same site that uses, for
example, the same images, the proxy cache has them already stored and can load them into the user's
browser quicker than having to retrieve them from the Web site server's remote site.
Implementation of Caching Proxy
Two forms of caching used in the web are client cache and network cache. The client cache is placed
in a Web browser. A Web browser stores documents browsed in the past and also the documents
currently displayed in browser windows. The client cache also have two forms which are persistent
and non-persistent.
A persistent client cache retains its documents between invocations of the Web browser, for example
Netscape that use this type of cache. Mosaic which is non-persistent client cache deallocates any
memory or disk used for caching when the user quits the browser. Per-client caches may maintain
consistency of cached files with server copies by issuing an optional conditional-GET to the http
server or proxy-server.
The second form of caching, is used in the network used by the Web like the caching proxy mentioned
at above. The cache is located on a machine on the path from multiple clients to multiple servers.
Example of this form of proxy are the CERN proxy server, the DEC SRC gateway, the UNIX HENSA
Archive, and in local Hyper-G servers. Caching proxy normally is not on a machine that runs a
WWW client or an HTTP server.
The caching proxy caches URLs generated by multiple clients. It is possible to use caching proxies
hierarchically, so that caching proxies cache URLs from other caching proxies. In this case the caches

Muhammad Shafiq Bin Hamid 169443

SKR4402 Client - Server Computing

Pn. Raja Azlina Raja Mahmood

can be identified as first level caches, second level caches, and so on. A hierarchical arrangement is
only one possible configuration.

Fig. 1: Client caching

Fig. 1.1: Cache array

References:
1. Caching Proxies: Limitations and Potentials

Muhammad Shafiq Bin Hamid 169443

SKR4402 Client - Server Computing

Pn. Raja Azlina Raja Mahmood

http://www.w3.org/Conferences/WWW4/Papers/155/
2. HTTP Proxy Caching
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/deploy/loadbal.html#1120597
3. Squid: Optimising Web Delivery
http://www.squid-cache.org/
4. Exploring Caching in ASP.NET
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/29899/Exploring-Caching-in-ASP-NET
5. The Benefits of Load Balancing
http://www.wsol.com/the-benefit-of-load-balancing/