Web accelerator: Difference between revisions

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

A '''web accelerator''' is a proxy server that reduces web site access time. They can be a contained hardware appliance or uninstall software.

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

A '''web accelerator''' is a [[proxy server]] that reduces web site[[website]] access time. They can be a self-contained hardware appliance or uninstallinstallable software.

Web accelerators notmay allowedbe 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 unserverserver to collect, decompresscompress and then deliver content to a [[Computerclient security|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.

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*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)

* [[Squid (software)|Squid]]

* [[WinGate]]

* [[Ziproxy]]

* [[Varnish (software)|Varnish]]

==Web server accelerator==

Other web accelerators are targeted at the web site or web application owners. This type of web accelerator is installed in front of web servers and application servers and use a variety of the above techniques to improve performance to all users accessing the accelerated web sites or web applications. Web server accelerators are sometimes referred to as [[Websitereverse proxy|websitereverse proxies]] or [[Application Delivery UnknownController]]s.

This type of server side accelerator has the added benefit of off-loading transactions and connection managements from the web or applications servers and hence, reducing its CPU utilization and increasing web server or application scalability to handle more users with less bandwidth.

===List===

* [[aiScaler]]

* Apache [[UnknownTraffic Server]]

* [[Apache HTTP Server]]

* [[ApplianSys#deleteboxCACHEbox|CACHEbox]]

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

* [[lighttpd]]

* [[nginx]]

* [[Polipo]] (not maintained)

* [[Squid (software)|Squid]]

* [[VannishVarnish (software)|VannishVarnish]]

* [[proxyZiproxy]]

==Client–server==

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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| ]]