Latency sensitive proxy cache selection

摘要

A system and method are provided for collaborative web caching among geographically distributed cache servers, particularly using a latency-sensitive hashing system. Thus network latency delays as well as proxy load conditions are taken into consideration during hashing. As a result, requests can be hashed into geographically closer proxy caches if the load conditions permit. Otherwise, requests will be hashed into geographically distant proxy caches to better balance the load among the caches. The method selects the proxy cache by first identifying a set of possible proxy caches by hashing the required URL into an anchor hash partition, and also including one or more nearby partitions into the anchor hash partition. Each partition is mapped to a proxy cache and the cache is then selected according to which one has the smallest latency delay.