CS297 Proposal

Client-side Page Element Web Caching

Ramya Karri(karri.ramya@gmail.com)

Advisor: Dr. Chris Pollett

Description:

When a user explores different web pages in a given website, the website typically sends the entire requested page even if only a portion of the page was different to the current page. That is, two pages on a given website might share elements on the page like search bar etc;but this information is retransmitted. According to current statistics [Yahoo08], 80% of end-user response time is spent on the front-end while downloading all the components in the page such as images, style sheets, scripts, Flash, etc. The aim of my project is to reduce the same using a new form of web page caching at the client-side, that caches the most common parts of the web pages in the website, such as logo, images or search tab, and reuses them in the further web pages reducing the transmission data. In order to explore the advantage of having client-side caching and to determine the effect on the response time I will make the server as fast as possible using Squids: optimizing web delivery, front-end accelerator for a Web server, to enhance the traffic from inside network to the Internet. I will also perform some benchmarks to measure the reduction in the end user response time.

Schedule:

Week 1-2:(26 Aug, 2008 - 9 Sept, 2008)	Prepare Proposal, work on Deliverable 1 - Learn PHP and cake PHP and develop a website that contains the course listings
Week 3:(9 Sept, 2008 - 16 Sept, 2008)	Deliverable 1 due
Week 4-5:( 16 Sept, 2008 - 30 Sept , 2008)	Work on Deliverable 2 - Configure Squid and set up a master and slave machine
Week 6:( 30 Sept , 2008 - 7 Oct, 2008)	Deliverable 2 due - Perform tests by requesting pages on the Squid and submit the results
Week 7-9:(7 Oct, 2008 - 28 Oct, 2008)	Work on Deliverable 3 - Conduct an experiment that caches common components on client side
Week 10:(28 Oct, 2008 - 4 Nov, 2008)	Deliverable 3 due - Client side caching program due
Week 11-12:(4 Nov, 2008 - 18 Nov, 2008)	Work on Deliverable 4. Learning about bench marking tools, perform bench marking and measure the reduction in response time
Week 13:(18 Nov, 2008 - 25 Nov, 2008	Deliverable 4 due - Results of conducted experiment
Week 14:( 25 Nov, 2008 - 2 Dec,2008)	Working on Deliverable 5 - Preparing CS297 Report
Week 15(12 Dec,2008 - 9 Dec,2008)	Submit CS297 report

Deliverables:

The full project will be done when CS298 is completed. The following will be done by the end of CS297:

1. Learn PHP and cakePHP. Develop a website where students can view the list of courses( along with links to the syllabi's and course description) offered by Computer Science Department, at San Jose State University, per year.

2. Configure Squid and set up a master and slave machine. Perform tests by requesting pages on the Squid.

3. Conduct an experiment that caches common components on client side

4. Learning about bench marking tools, perform bench marking and measure the reduction in response time

5. Write CS297 Proposal Report.

References:

[Hawes00] Hawes, M.K. (2000). U.S. Patent No. 6,094,662. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

[Cevasco06] Cevasco, F. (2006). The CakePHP Framework: Your First Bite. Retrieved July 12,2006, from http://www.sitepoint.com/article/application-development-cakephp

[Visolve02] Visolve Squid Team (2002). Implementing reverse proxy using squid

[Yahoo08] Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Web Site. Retrieved from http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html

[Squid08] Squid-cache wiki (http://wiki.squid-cache.org/) is a well organised site for learning about Squids