Characterizing Web Response Time

It is critical to understand WWW latency in order to design better HTTP protocols. In this study we characterize Web response time and examine the effects of proxy caching, network bandwidth, traffic load, persistent connections for a page, and periodicity. Based on studies with four workloads, we show that at least a quarter of the total elapsed time is spent on establishing TCP connections with HTTP/1.0. The distributions of connection time and elapsed time can be modeled using Pearson, Weibul, or Log-logistic distributions. We also characterize the effect of a user's network bandwidth on response time. Average connection time from a client via a 33.6 K modem is two times longer than that from a client via switched Ethernet. We estimate the elapsed time savings from using persistent connections for a page to vary from about a quarter to a half. Response times display strong daily and weekly patterns. This study finds that a proxy caching server is sensitive to traffic loads. Contrary to the typical thought about Web proxy caching, this study also finds that a single stand-alone squid proxy cache does not always reduce response time for our workloads. Implications of these results to future versions of the HTTP protocol and to Web application design also are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science

Department dc:contributor.department

Computer Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Liu, Binzhang M.S.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Fox, Edward A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Abrams, Marc
• Ehrich, Roger W.

• World Wide Web
• Latency
• Proxy Caching

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-4798-11230

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/36741