Workload characterization of a Web proxy in a cable modem environment

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed workload characterization study of a World-Wide Web proxy. Measurements from a proxy within an Internet Service Provider (ISP) environment were collected. This ISP allows clients to access the Web using high-speed cable modems rather than traditional dialup modems. By examining this site we are able to evaluate the effects that cable modems have on proxy workloads.This paper focuses on workload characteristics such as file type distribution, file size distribution, file referencing behaviour and turnover in the active set of files. We find that when presented with faster access speeds users are willing to download extremely large files. A widespread increase in the transfer of these large files would have a significant impact on the Web. This behaviour increases the importance of caching for ensuring the scalability of the Web.