Web Caching and Replication

13.1. A Note on Implementation

Various techniques considered in this chapter require various degrees of modification to browsers, Web servers, or proxies. Browsers can be extended in three basic ways.

1. Co-locating a customized proxy with the browser. In this approach, illustrated in Figure 13.1a, the computer that runs the browser application also runs a custom proxy. The browser is configured to send its requests to the custom proxy. The custom proxy implements all new functionality; it receives a standard HTTP request from the browser and sends a standard HTTP response back. The browser itself is oblivious to any new functionality.

   Figure 13.1. Customizing standard Web browsers (a) and servers (b) using custom proxies

2. Browser plug-ins. A new ...