Web accelerator: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Proxy server reducing website access time}}

{{Refimprove|date=May 2014}}A '''web accelerator''' is a [[proxy server]] that reduces [[web site]] [[access time]]. They can be a self-contained hardware appliance or installable software.

{{More footnotes needed|date=November 2023}}

{{Refimprove|date=May 2014}}A '''web accelerator''' is a [[proxy server]] that reduces [[web sitewebsite]] [[access time]]. They can be a self-contained hardware appliance or installable software.

Web accelerators may be installed on the client computer or mobile device, on [[Internet service provider|ISP]] servers, on the server computer/network, or a combination. Accelerating delivery through compression requires some type of host-based server to collect, compress and then deliver content to a client computer.

==Techniques==

Web accelerators may use several techniques to achieve this reduction in access time:

They may:

*[[web cache|cache]] recently or frequently accessed [[electronic document|documents]] so they may be sent to the [[client (computing)|client]] with less [[lagLatency (engineering)|latency]] or at a faster [[transfer rate]] than the remote [[server (computing)|server]] could.

*freshen objects in the cache ensuring that frequently accessed content is readily available for display.

*preemptively [[Domain name system|resolve hostnames]] present in a document ([[HTML]] or [[JavaScript]]) in order to reduce latency.

*[[link prefetching|prefetch]] documents that are likely to be accessed in the near future.

*[[data compression|compress]] documents to a smaller size, for example by reducing the quality of [[digital image|images]] or by sending only what's changed since the document was last requested.

*[[Optimization (computer science)|optimize]] the code<ref>{{cite web | url=https://page-audit.ru/wiki/Performance | title=Web page optimize | author=E. Geverin | work=Book }}</ref> from certain documents (such as [[HTML]] or [[JavaScript]]).

*[[filter (software)|filter]] out ads and other undesirable objects so they are not sent to the client at all.

*maintain persistent [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]] connections between the client and the proxy server.

*improve the performance via protocol level accelerations, such as [[TCP acceleration]].

These techniques align with best practices which are typically recommended to improve the performance of [[web applications]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://docforge.com/wiki/Web_application#Performance | title=Web application | author=Multiple (wiki) | work=Docforge | accessdateaccess-date=2012-12-13 }}</ref>

==Web client accelerator==

FromIntroduced Julyin 20062001-2002 [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB106012229328087800], these applications generally serve to improve [[dial-up]], [[broadband]] and other connections from which users may not be getting the best speed. Many users can achieve a 2- to 10-times speed increase in average browsing experience, while some report a 5- to 20-times speed increases for specific web sites and pages.{{Citation needed|date=August 2014}} ManyDialup ISPs offer web accelerators as a part of their dial up and broadband services. WebThe acceleratorspre-compression areoperates typicallymuch designedmore forefficiently webthan browsingthe and, sometimes, for eon-mailingthe-fly and can not improve speedscompression of [[streamingV.44 media|streaming]],modems. gamingTypically, P2Pwebsite downloadstext oris manycompacted otherto Internet applications. However5%, therethus isincreasing substantialeffective workdialup beingthroughput doneto onapproximately client-side Web Accelerators for Application Delivery Networks by several companies including Cisco Systems1000&nbsp;kbit/s, and F5JPEG/GIF/PNG Networksimages asare thelossy-compressed demandto for15–20%, [[softwareincreasing aseffective a service|SaaS]] and [[PaaS]] look setthroughput to grow among [[small and medium enterprises]]300&nbsp;kbit/s.

The drawback of this approach is a loss in quality, where the graphics acquire [[compression artifacts]] taking on a blurry or colorless appearance. However, the transfer speed is dramatically improved. If desired, the user may choose to view uncompressed images instead, but at a much slower load rate.

Web accelerators are typically designed for web browsing and, sometimes, for e-mailing and can not improve speeds of [[streaming media|streaming]], gaming, P2P downloads or many other Internet applications. However, there is substantial work being done on client-side Web Accelerators for Application Delivery Networks by several companies including Cisco Systems and F5 Networks as the demand for [[software as a service|SaaS]] and [[PaaS]] look set to grow among [[small and medium enterprises]].

===List===

* [[America Online]]

* [[Netscape]] ISP

* [[Google Web Accelerator]] (discontinued)

* Heigh Speed (discontinued){{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

* [[Heigh Speed]]

* [[OnSpeedNetJet]] (discontinued)

* [[PolipoOnSpeed]] (discontinued)

* [[Polipo]] (not maintained)

* [[GTB Technologies|Proxyconn]] DSL speed for dial up

* [[Squid (software)|Squid]]

* [[WinGate]]

* [[Ziproxy]]

* [[Varnish (software)|Varnish]]

==Web server accelerator==

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* [[aiScaler]]

* Apache [[Traffic Server]]

* [[Apache HTTP Server]]

* [[ApplianSys#CACHEbox|CACHEbox]]

* [[Caddy (web server)|Caddy]]

* [[lighttpd]]

* [[nginx]]

* [[Polipo]] (not maintained)

* [[Squid (software)|Squid]]

* [[Varnish (software)|Varnish]]

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==See also==

* [[Content delivery network]]

* [[InterPlanetary File System]] - makes web accelerators redundant

==References==

<references/>

==External links==

*{{dmoz|Computers/Internet/Proxying_and_Filtering/Products_and_Tools/Software/Server/|Web Accelerators}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Web Accelerator}}

[[Category:Web accelerators| ]]