Web acceleration
Encyclopedia
Web acceleration is a service that accelerates the delivery of content from web sites to a computer user.
(CDN) supporting their website. One of the functions of a CDN is to accelerate the content.
The primary method of acceleration is multiple, distributed cache
s. Most of the standard CDNs have a multitude of cache servers around the globe. This way, if the origin server (the website where the content exists) is in one location, the various cache servers across the world will get the content from the origin server and cache them in their memory (RAM
or hard disk
). Once the content exists on a cache server and a user near that cache requests the content, it can be delivered faster. The fact that the content is closer to the user reduces the routing distance, which saves network connection time.
In most CDNs, the content is cached in RAM which is optimized for speed and better performance. This provides faster access times than a hard disk cache.
Web acceleration can also support encryption of HTTPS
content for secure access to web pages.
A successful CDN optimizes performance by minimizing the response time while also maximizing the number of simultaneous HTTP requests per second.
Theory
Web acceleration means web sites can be loaded faster, both for large file downloads and small images. Currently most pages on the internet have a Content Delivery NetworkContent Delivery Network
A content delivery network or content distribution network is a system of computers containing copies of data placed at various nodes of a network....
(CDN) supporting their website. One of the functions of a CDN is to accelerate the content.
The primary method of acceleration is multiple, distributed cache
Cache
In computer engineering, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere...
s. Most of the standard CDNs have a multitude of cache servers around the globe. This way, if the origin server (the website where the content exists) is in one location, the various cache servers across the world will get the content from the origin server and cache them in their memory (RAM
Ram
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
or hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
). Once the content exists on a cache server and a user near that cache requests the content, it can be delivered faster. The fact that the content is closer to the user reduces the routing distance, which saves network connection time.
In most CDNs, the content is cached in RAM which is optimized for speed and better performance. This provides faster access times than a hard disk cache.
Web acceleration can also support encryption of HTTPS
Https
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server...
content for secure access to web pages.
Performance
When evaluating a CDN's web acceleration, the following performance factors are considered:- response time is the most important criteria
- number of simultaneous HTTP requests that a CDN can handle
A successful CDN optimizes performance by minimizing the response time while also maximizing the number of simultaneous HTTP requests per second.