NetCache 5.3.

1
Overview

Objectives
When you have completed this module you will be able
to describe the following concepts:

NetCache architecture
NetCache models
Managing objects
Request distribution and
load balancing

Deployment strategies
Internet Content
Adaptation Protocol (ICAP)
Content Delivery Networks
Global Request Manager

Web Without Caching

Browsers
(Clients)
Remote Web Server

Internet
or
WAN

Page 1

Clients make requests directly to web servers and

web servers respond directly

Browsers

Web With Caching

Remote Web Server
NetCache
Internet
or
WAN

Copy of Page 1

Page 1

Web Caching Local replication (storage) of frequently used

web objects to reduce network latency and bandwidth
consumption.
Benefits
Lower bandwidth costs
Faster response time / better quality of service
Enhanced security

Architecture
NetCache
Internet

Firewall

Client

Router
NetCache
Server

NetCache Hardware Series

C3100/C6100

C2100

C1200

C1100/C1105

PERFORMANCE

Protocols

HTTP
FTP
Gopher
SSL
SSH
DNS
SNMP

ICAP
NTP
WCCPv2.0
NNTP
RTSP
MMS
ICP

Software Architecture
Disk I/O
Buffer Pool
Memory
Manager

WAFL
Storage Manager
File Layout
Manager

Object
Map

Protocol Fetch Modules

HTTP / FTP / Gopher / ICP / SSL Tunnel / Ext. Fetch

Client Side Protocol

Processing
HTTP 1.1
Extensible
Persistent
SSL
Protocols
Connections
Tunneling

Filtering and Client Side Access Controls

User
User
Filtering DB
Authentication DB
TCP/UDP Socket API TCP Transparency API

TCP/IP Stack

Types of Proxy Servers

Proxy Server (NetCache)
Internet
Client

NetCache

Server

Accelerator (Reverse proxy)

Internet
Client

NetCache
Server

What a Web Cache Caches

NetCache appliance caches objects that use

HTTP (Web content

FTP (file transfer)
Gopher (document search and retrieval)
MMS
RTSP

NetCache caches only cacheable objects

Proxies noncacheable objects (CGI scripts or
private pages) without storing them

Which Objects Are Cached?

An object's HTTP MIME header contains one of the
following:
Cache-Control: no-cache
Cache-Control: no-store
Cache-Control: private
Pragma: no-cache
An object's HTTP MIME header contains a Set-Cookie
line
NetCache can define other types of objects as either
cacheable or noncacheable

Time To Live (TTL)

Each object has a TTL
TTL is determined in the following ways:
NetCache uses the objects Cache Control
Header
Settings entered in the NetCache
NetCache calculates a default TTL

Once NetCache has these numbers, it

takes the smallest

Data Validity
Refresh rate
During an objects lifetime, NetCache periodically issues
an If Modified Since (IMS) request to the web server
Based on the response from the web server, NetCache
decides whether an object is still valid

For example:
An ISP guarantees that their objects are no older than
20 minutes, so they set the refresh rate to 20 minutes
After 20 minutes has expired an IMS request will be sent
to the origin server the next time the object is requested

Request Distribution
Transparent caching
Automatic Proxy Configuration File
Round robin DNS

Request Distribution - Switch

World Wide Web

For cache misses, objects

fetched from web

IP Address A
NetCache
Client

HTTP
Requests

IP Address B

L4 or L7Switch
NetCache
Client
IP Address C
NetCache
Client

Request Distribution With

Automatic-Proxy Configuration File
Can distribute requests based on IP
address
No intercache communication required
Browser-based traffic portioning not as
efficient as switch
All browser protocols

Request Distribution
with Round Robin DNS
Multiple IP addresses assigned a single
DNS host name
Distributes requests in a cyclical pattern
Same objects can be cached in more
than one cache
Cannot detect a failed NetCache
Inexpensive method of load balancing

Failover Strategies
Failover as part of a transparent
deployment
Automatic Proxy Configuration File
NetCache Appliance takeover pairs

Failover With L4 Switch

(Transparent Deployment)
Switch fails:
Switches can be
deployed in pairs
for fail over
protection

NetCache fails:
Switch detects the
failure
Switch fails over to
the web
Lose URL blocking
or logging
Transparent to
client

Failover With Multiple NetCaches

(Transparent Deployment)
Internet

L4 Switch
Client
Router

Client

NetCache

Client

NetCache

NetCache

Failover With Automatic Proxy

File
JavaScript file installed on client
Fail over to another web cache or
the web
Not all client browser versions fail
over correctly

Failover With NetCache

Takeover Pair
Crossover
Cable
NetCache

NetCache

NetCache
Takeover
Partners

Firewall Deployments
Parallel to the firewall
Inside the firewall

Parallel to the Firewall

Inside the Firewall

Web Accelerators

Single Web Accelerator

Accelerator Advantages
Distributed Web Accelerators
Multiple Accelerators
Accelerating Multiple Web Servers

Accelerator Advantages
Shields the web server from the outside
world
Offloads the work from the web server
and firewall

Single Web Accelerator

Distributed Web-Site
Accelerators

Multiple Accelerators

Single Accelerator
Multiple Web Servers

Internet Content Adaptation

Protocol (ICAP)
Ad insertion

Virus Checker

Language
Translator

NetCache

Content Filter

Legend: ICAP servers for

Compute-Intensive
Operations

Distributed Caching
Supports Inter Cache Protocol (ICP)
Peer-to-peer proxy protocol
Compatible with Harvest-based caches

Increases availability
Improves scalability through hierarchies
and clusters

DNS Caching

L4 Switch

NetCache

Host IP lookup
Proxy other requests

DNS
Server

Commercial CDN
Remote PoPs

Data Center
Distribution & Management
ContentDirector
Snap Mirror

Servers

NetCache

Internet
NetCache

Filer

Reporting and Monitoring

ContentReporter
Appliance Watch
FilerView
Filer

NetCache

Peering Partner

Global Request Manager (GRM)

Concepts and Assumptions
A Content Delivery Network is intended to
move content as close as possible to the
users
A Global Request Manager manages the
network of caches in a CDN, and is
responsible for directing client requests to the
closest cache
Requests for content need to be directed to
nearby edge caches without requiring
reconfiguration of the customers environment

GRM Server
DNS used to redirect clients
NetCache assumes the identity of the
authoritative DNS
Client queries are resolved by DNS
servers authoritative for the domain
IP addresses returned to the client will
be the closest ones available

GRM Agent
Reports cache load to the GRM server
Makes proximity measurements to
addresses provided by the GRM server
Reports results and subsequent
changes to GRM server

GRM
Name Server
Top-Level
Name Server

Agent
NetCache

(3 & 4)

NetCache

(2)

(5)
(5)
Agent
Origin
Server

Local
Name Server

(5)

(1)
NetCache

(5)
Agent(s)

(6)
Client

NetCache

NetCache

L7 Redirection
Agent
GRM
L7 Server
Origin
Server

(1)
Agent(s)

(3)
(4)

(2)
www.cdn.netapp.com

Topic Review
What is web caching?
What is the difference between a forward and
a reverse proxy?
What is transparent caching?
How are cache contents kept current?
What is fail over and how is it accomplished?
What are some methods to load balance
multiple caches?
What does the Global Request Manager do?