Goodbye Inktomi, hello NetApp?

rdhw · 08-01-2004, 15:06

Apparently, at least one NTL region (Guildford), maybe more in due course, are now using NetApp NetCache appliances as caching proxies.

This follows Inktomi's announcement some months ago that they were abandoning the proxy-cache market.

Sociable · 08-01-2004, 15:14

I take it this is good news Robin so many thanks for the heads up.

Would I be right in thinking this offers a solution to all the poxy proxy problems?

Also will NTL be advising customers as the updates roll out as I assume any that have specified a proxy in those areas may need to change settings to take advantage?

Frank · 08-01-2004, 15:21

Hi Robin,

ntl have been doing some upgrading recently, although in usual style haven't communicated it to their customers. Why they haven't done so is beyond me as it would only make them look good, but I am told this is still confidential.

My web server logs are showing ntl customer's still using Traffic-Server/5.2.4 (inktomi I belive) but I know than ntl have used NetCache NetApp/5.3.1 on their coporate gateway for a while now.

From looking at my weblogs today only, I see that cdif, renf, midd and swan caches all still show up as Traffic-Server/5.2.4. I'll see what else I can find out.

**Paul** · 08-01-2004, 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keyser

ntl have been doing some upgrading recently, although in usual style haven't communicated it to their customers. Why they haven't done so is beyond me as it would only make them look good, but I am told this is still confidential.

Perhaps they think the average customer would just be confused or uninterested if they were told about technical updates (such as the proxy stuff). Maybe they should have a technical announcements & upgrades page similar to the outages page.

David25 · 09-01-2004, 15:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by pem

Maybe they should have a technical announcements & upgrades page similar to the outages page.

This is a very good idea

mixteus · 09-01-2004, 16:13

I will second that, considering I am trialling ADSL at the momment!

Foo Fighter · 09-01-2004, 17:39

Yeh a technical page would be great

Frank · 09-01-2004, 17:53

That was the idea of nthellworld.com but they hardly ever provided them with anything such as what you would like to see.

rdhw · 09-01-2004, 20:32

Testing all regions reveals that the following 9 centres are running NetCache:

Ashford, Guildford, Manchester, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Poplar, Watford, Winnersh.

All other centres are still running Inktomis.

mmm · 10-01-2004, 12:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdhw

Testing all regions reveals that the following 9 centres are running NetCache:

Ashford, Guildford, Manchester, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Poplar, Watford, Winnersh.

All other centres are still running Inktomis.

Not all good news, Oxford Proxies were not working yesterday ... regular "page not found" which was sometimes fixed using refresh. So I'm currently using Northampton which are working fine for me (except explicit proxy bypasses my hosts file ad filter!).

One interesting effect of the new caches (software only?) is that they are more transparent than the inktomis:-

broadband-help.com for example thinks my IP is that of the cache!

rdhw · 10-01-2004, 13:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmm

One interesting effect of the new caches (software only?) is that they are more transparent than the inktomis

There is more than one method for web-proxies to pass on the identity of the original browser to the server. NetApp NetCaches (and squid, another brand) use the X-Forwarded-For header, which is widely understood. Inktomis use the Client-IP header, which is less widely understood. Some (but not all) of the NTL Inktomis send both X-Forwarded-For and Client-IP, in an attempt to make themselves better understood.

At present, it is necessary for servers to understand both conventions for them to be able to cope with all NTL customers correctly. Many websites which purport to tell you your IP address fail to understand both these conventions, and so hand out the addresses of proxies instead of browsers.

**Paul** · 10-01-2004, 14:04

You can see which are being passed on in this page I set up for aother thread;

http://romulas.zmnt.co.uk/forum/vars.asp

PC_Arcade · 13-01-2004, 09:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdhw

Testing all regions reveals that the following 9 centres are running NetCache:

Ashford, Guildford, Manchester, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Poplar, Watford, Winnersh.

All other centres are still running Inktomis.

Is it possible to force the use of the Netcache Proxies? AFAIK I'm still on the inktomi (I'm in oxford BTW). The Oxford proxies are (and have been for the 2 years I've been with NTL) bloody awful.

rdhw · 13-01-2004, 10:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by PC_Arcade

Is it possible to force the use of the Netcache Proxies? AFAIK I'm still on the inktomi (I'm in oxford BTW). The Oxford proxies are (and have been for the 2 years I've been with NTL) bloody awful.

Oxford is already running NetApp NetCache, not Inktomis.

SMHarman · 13-01-2004, 10:22

Did Cardiff switch over yesterday. My IE was set to a specific Cardiff proxy that seemed to die yesterday. Email fine, browsing, nothing.

Unticked the specify and now all OK