Chapter 13. Delivering Cached and Streaming Media

Chapter Goals

In this Chapter, you will learn how to configure caching and streaming media by covering the following topics:

• Redirection MethodsYou will learn how to redirect your client's requests to your content engines.

• Enabling Value-Added Services to your content engines (CEs)You will learn how to configure your content engines for web-based caching.

• Delivering Streaming MediaYou will learn how to configure your content engines for Windows and RealMedia caching and streaming.

The nature of content requests from Internet users tends toward the 80/20 axiom in network computing, where 80 percent of client requests are for 20 percent of your content. To deliver content to your users in a more efficient manner, you can configure your network to cache frequently requested objects in closer proximity to your users.

In this Chapter, you will learn primarily how to deliver unmanaged content to your internal users more efficiently. Unmanaged content is content that is sourced from an origin server that you do not manage yourself, such as a server on the Internet. However, you can use most of the concepts in this Chapter to deliver content that you manage, such as content from an intranet HTTP or streaming media server. In Chapter 14, "Distributing and Routing Managed Content," you will learn strictly how to deliver your managed content more efficiently. As the name suggests, managed content is content that you or another person or group in your organization has full control over creating and maintaining.