Abstract

The number of users connected to the Internet has been growing at an exponential rate, resulting in similar increases in network traffic and Internet server load. Advances in microprocessors and network technologies have kept up with growth so far, but we are reaching the limits of hardware solutions. In order for the Internet's growth to continue, we must efficiently distribute server load and reduce the network traffic generated by its various services. Traditional wide-area caching schemes are client initiated. Decisions on where and when to cache information are made without the benefit of the server's global knowledge of the situation. We introduce a technique---push- caching---that is server initiated; it leaves caching decisions to the server. The server uses its knowledge of network topology, geography, and access patterns to minimize network traffic and server load. The World Wide Web is an example of a large-scale distributed information system that will benefit from this ge...

Citations