backbone transparent proxy / connection hijacking

alex at nac.net alex at nac.net
Sat Jun 27 01:25:08 UTC 1998


	" ... and now, a word from our sponsor ..."

> Inktomi's Traffic Server customers and other users of transparent


> Transparent caching brings with it significant benefits to
> the ISPs and backbones who deploy it, but also to the

In this case, it brings a significant benefit to Digex, but hardly the
customers of Digex. Bluntly, it potentially saves digex money when the use
less of their infrestructure to serve the same amount of service to a
client. I didn't say it was wrong, or bad, but lets be clear on who it is
advantageous to.

> dialup users, corporate customers and downstream ISPs who
> utilize those links. Cached content is delivered accurately

Accurately is a bone of contention. We've all seen what caching can do to
time sensitive web-sites.

> performance for non-HTTP protocols. Many people believe that
> large-scale caching is necessary and inevitable in order to scale
> the Internet into the future.

While it may be many people, they may all be wrong.

> of cached content, and confidentiality/legal issues with

I didn'y see any mention of copyright infringement, which will be an issue
at some point. Also, the fact that if I am caching my customers
web-servers, they are potentially getting free service.

> These two problems are examples of legacy issues. IP-based
> authentication is widely known to be a weak security measure.

But, this is irrelevant if people use it. Thats a simple point.


> Most content providers have no such concerns, frankly. The problem

Hah! This is a silly statement. Not to mention, when sites are selling
advertising based upon hits on thier site. Is there a way yet for the
proxy to report back to the cached-site that is served a cached-copy of
it's website?

> of a scalable Internet, are confident that caching is becoming an
> integral part of the infrastructure, and provides many benefits to
> hosters, ISPs, backbones and surfers alike.

This part, I agree with you on.


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                  Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
			 I route, therefore I am.
       Alex Rubenstein, alex at nac.net, KC2BUO, ISP/C Charter Member
               Father of the Network and Head Bottle-Washer
     Net Access Corporation, 9 Mt. Pleasant Tpk., Denville, NJ 07834
 Don't choose a spineless ISP! We have more backbone!  http://www.nac.net
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