The document contains answers to multiple problems about DNS, HTML requests, cache validity techniques for images versus HTML, whether an ISP can function as a content delivery network, and conditions where a CDN would not be suitable. The problems cover topics like DNS timeout recovery, the lines in an HTTP request, factors that impact cache effectiveness for different media types, and challenges with a single ISP acting as a CDN versus using multiple distributed servers.
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The document contains answers to multiple problems about DNS, HTML requests, cache validity techniques for images versus HTML, whether an ISP can function as a content delivery network, and conditions where a CDN would not be suitable. The problems cover topics like DNS timeout recovery, the lines in an HTTP request, factors that impact cache effectiveness for different media types, and challenges with a single ISP acting as a CDN versus using multiple distributed servers.
The document contains answers to multiple problems about DNS, HTML requests, cache validity techniques for images versus HTML, whether an ISP can function as a content delivery network, and conditions where a CDN would not be suitable. The problems cover topics like DNS timeout recovery, the lines in an HTTP request, factors that impact cache effectiveness for different media types, and challenges with a single ISP acting as a CDN versus using multiple distributed servers.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PS, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
The document contains answers to multiple problems about DNS, HTML requests, cache validity techniques for images versus HTML, whether an ISP can function as a content delivery network, and conditions where a CDN would not be suitable. The problems cover topics like DNS timeout recovery, the lines in an HTTP request, factors that impact cache effectiveness for different media types, and challenges with a single ISP acting as a CDN versus using multiple distributed servers.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PS, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as ps, pdf, or txt
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Written Assignment II
Solutions
I. Problem 7.5: DNS uses UDP instead of TCP. If a DNS packet is lost, there is automatic recovery. (10 points)
Does this cause a problem? The users wait longer to have
the name resolved.
If this causes a problem, how is it solved?
Answer. DNS is idempotent. Operations can be
repeated without harm. When a process makes a DNS request, it starts a timer. If the timer expires, it just sends the request again.
II. Problem 7.39: An HTML page is as follows:
<html> <body> <a href=”www.info-source.com/welcome.html”> Click here for info </a> </body> </html>
If the user clicks on the hyperlink, a TCP connection is opened and a
series of lines is sent to the server. List all the lines sent. (10 points)
Answer. After the TCP connection is opened, an HTML
request packet corresponding to the clicked hyperlink is sent to the server.
GET /welcome.html HTTP/1.1\r\n
Host: www.info-source.com\r\n \r\n
III. Problem 7.40: The If-Modified-Since header can be used to check
whether a cached page is still valid. Requests can be made for pages containing images, sound, video, and so on, as well as HTML. Do you think the effectiveness of this technique is better or worse for JPEG images as compared to HTML? Think carefully about what “effectiveness” means and explain your answer. (10 points)
Answer. The answer to this problem depends on how
we define “effectiveness”. Here are examples. Definition 1: The effectiveness means the reduction in the transmission bandwidth caused by the validity of the cached objects.
With this definition, the effectiveness of the
technique is better for JPEG files. JPEG files are usually much larger, but change less often than HTML files. Therefore, not having to send one is a big win.
Definition 2: The effectiveness is defined as the
amount of the new data fetched from the requests sent to the server.
With this definition, the effectiveness of the
technique is better for HTML files. HTML pages change more often than JPEG files. Therefore, it is more likely to have updated HTML pages when sending request packets to the server.
Note Some other acceptable definition may be
applied.
IV. Problem 7.42: Does it make sense for a single ISP to function as a CDN? If so, how would that work? If not, what is wrong with the idea? (10 points)
Answer. The answer to this problem is a matter of
understanding the question.
Possibility 1: The question asks whether it makes
sense for an ISP to work as one of the servers of a CDN.
With this understanding, it surely makes sense
for an ISP to function as one of the servers of a CDN. The ISP goes to a number of content providers and gets their permission to replicate the content on the ISP’s site. The content provider might even pay to the ISP for this. The disadvantage is that it is a lot of work for the ISP to contact may content providers. It is easier to let CDNs do this.
Possibility 2: The question asks whether it makes
sense that a CDN replicates the content on only one ISP site. With this understanding, it does not make sense for a CDN to place the content on a single ISP site. This will cause a lot of problems. For instance, the single ISP may not actually close to the clients or reduce the delay experienced by the clients as desired by the CDN; and the single ISP becomes the bottleneck of the system.
V. Problem 7.43: Under what conditions is using a CDN a bad idea? (10 points)
Answer. It is a bad idea if the content changes
rapidly. Pages full of up-to-the second sports results or stock quotes are not good candidates, for example. Pages that are generated dynamically are not suitable.
