Web OS 10.0 Application Guide204 n Chapter 8: Application Redirection 212777-A, February 2002OverviewMost of the information downloaded from the Internet is not unique, as clients will oftenaccess the Web page many times for additional information or to explore other links. Duplicateinformation also gets requested as the components that make up Internet data at a particularWeb site (pictures, buttons, frames, text, and so on) are reloaded from page to page. When youconsider this scenario in the context of many clients, it becomes apparent that redundantrequests can consume a considerable amount of your available bandwidth to the Internet.Application redirection can help reduce the traffic congestion during peak loads. When Appli-cation redirection filters are properly configured for the Web OS-powered switch, outboundclient requests for Internet data are intercepted and redirected to a group of application or Webcache servers on your network. The servers duplicate and store inbound Internet data that hasbeen requested by your clients. If the servers recognize a client’s outbound request as one thatcan be filled with cached information, the servers supply the information rather than send therequest across the Internet.In addition to increasing the efficiency of your network, accessing locally cached informationcan be much faster than requesting the same information across the Internet.Web Cache Redirection EnvironmentConsider a network where client HTTP requests begin to regularly overload the Internet router.Figure 8-1 Traditional Network Without Web Cache RedirectionClientsInternetRouterClient SwitchClient SwitchCongestionTargets Router
