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ISP
Planet
Caching Series Wrap-Up
Following our in-depth looks at six Web caches, we conclude by comparing their many strengths and weaknesses.
Lisa Phifer
VP Core
Competence, Inc.
At the end of last year, ISP-Planet embarked upon a series of web cache product reviews. Over the period of two months, we poked and prodded six web caches in our test lab. One by one, we reviewed each product's management and monitoring features, asking ourselves the same basic question: How easy is this product to install, configure, monitor, and upgrade? Here, in our series closer, we step back and take one final comparative look at participating products.
What We Tested
We invited ten web cache vendors to submit products. A few did not have
product ready or support staff available. In the end, we evaluated five
commercial products and one open source cache. We allowed each vendor
to select the model, version, and redirection device to be tested. We
installed each product in the same small test network, used the same tools
for traffic generation, and attempted to perform similar configuration
and monitoring tasks. Individual product reviews were published for each
product, listed below with model and hardware configuration
tested.
|
Vendor |
Quantex |
InfoLibria |
Compaq |
CacheFlow |
NetApp |
NLANR |
|
Product |
WebXL 2000 |
DynaCache 220I |
TaskSmart C2000R |
CacheFlow 545 |
NetCache C720s |
Squid 2.3 |
|
URL |
||||||
|
As-Tested Price |
$3999 |
$24,995 |
$20,750 |
$18,995 |
$25,950 |
Free Software |
|
Our Review |
||||||
|
Enclosure |
2U |
4U |
3U |
2U |
5U |
Pentium III 500 MHz |
|
RAM (MB) |
250 MB |
512 MB |
1000 MB |
768 MB |
512 MB |
128 MB |
|
Storage (GB) |
10 GB |
36 GB (hot swap) |
54 GB (hot swap) |
36 GB |
36 GB |
20 GB |
|
10/100 NICs |
2 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
|
Power Supply |
1 |
2 (hot swap) |
2 (hot swap) |
1 |
2 (hot swap) |
N/A |
|
Disk Mirroring |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Integrated RAID |
N/A |
|
External Storage |
No |
Exp Shelf Available |
Possible |
No |
Exp Shelf Available |
N/A |
|
Operating System |
Novell ICS |
Modified BSDI |
Novell ICS |
CacheOS |
Data ONTAP |
Any UNIX |
|
File System |
Cache Object Store |
ufs |
Cache Object Store |
CacheOS |
WAFL |
ufs |
|
Target ISP Market |
Small to Medium |
Medium to Large |
Medium to Large |
Small to Medium |
Medium |
N/A |
|
Vendor's Metric |
Stores 1M Objects |
27 Mbps |
1275 Client Req/Sec |
10-15 Mbps |
40 Mbps |
see notes |
Because our evaluation focused on manageability—typically consistent across a product family—we did not require vendors to submit models with similar capacity. Every commercial product we tested is marketed for midsize ISP use, but vendor self-categorization (denoted above) varies. Quantex and Squid were the only entry-level caches tested. We'd categorize the others as midrange. None are "honking big" carrier-class models. Most ISPs will appreciate high-availability features: hot swappable disks, redundant power supplies, disk mirroring or RAID. For built-in fault tolerance, we give InfoLibria's DynaLink electro-mechanical bypass the edge.
But for an apples-to-apples comparison of capacity and price, readers need to consider other models we did not test. During each evaluation, we identified low, medium, and high-end product family siblings. Vendor-supplied specs are summarized below, but of course will change over time.
|
Vendor |
Quantex |
InfoLibria |
Compaq |
CacheFlow |
NetApp |
|
Low End |
WebXL 2000 |
DynaCache 20 |
TaskSmart C1200R |
CacheFlow 110 |
NetCache C720s(2) |
|
Base Price |
$3999 |
$9,995 |
$8,999 |
$4,495 |
$10,000 |
|
RAM (MB) |
250 MB |
512 MB |
256 MB |
128 MB |
512 MB |
|
Storage (GB) |
10 GB |
27 GB |
9 GB |
4 GB |
18 GB |
|
Vendor's Metric |
Stores 1M Objects |
12 Mbps |
250 Client Req/Sec |
1.5 Mbps |
20 Mbps |
|
Midrange |
WebXL 3000 |
DynaCache 220i |
TaskSmart C1500R |
CacheFlow 545 |
NetCache C720s(4) |
|
Base Price |
$7499 |
$24,995 |
$10,999 |
$18,995 |
$25,950 |
|
RAM (MB) |
500 MB |
512 MB |
512 MB |
768 MB |
512 MB |
|
Storage (GB) |
20 GB |
36 GB (hot swap) |
18 GB |
36 GB |
36 GB |
|
Vendor's Metric |
Stores 2M Objects |
27 Mbps |
500 Client Req/Sec |
10-15 Mbps |
40 Mbps |
|
High End |
WebXL 4000 |
DynaCache 260i |
TaskSmart C2000R |
CacheFlow 5000 |
NetCache C760 |
|
Base Price |
$18,999 |
$72,995 |
$20,750 |
$79,995 |
$60,000 |
|
RAM (MB) |
1000 MB |
1000 MB |
1000 MB |
2000 MB |
1000 MB |
|
Storage (GB) |
54 GB (hot swap) |
144 GB (hot swap) |
54 GB (hot swap) |
Up to 180 GB |
Up to 504 GB |
|
Vendor's Metric |
Not Supplied |
45 Mbps |
1275 Client Req/Sec |
45 - 155 Mbps |
80 Mbps |
Note that participating vendors supplied different sizing metrics: several quoted aggregate throughput, others transaction rate or object capacity. For performance benchmarks that facilitate product comparison, see measurements taken during the Second IRCache Bakeoff, conducted in January by the National Laboratory of Applied Network Research (NLANR).
While hardware varies, the OS and file system are the unifying thread within each product family. Quantex and Compaq resell Novell's Internet Caching System (NICS) software. CacheFlow and NetApp each employ their own proprietary OS and patented file system. InfoLibria and Squid run on standard operating systems with kernel tweaks: modified BSDI for the DynaCache, any UNIX variant for Squid. NICS is resold on a half dozen OEM vendor platforms. The NetCache may have unique underpinnings, but superficially, it looks a lot like Squid. CacheFlow has the most innovative "feel" within this group of products.
| Introduction | Cache Tuning and Monitoring |
| > Cache Deployment | Product Support and Documentation |
| Installation Configuration | Conclusion |
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