What's New in Oracle9iAS Web Cache?

This section describes the new features of Oracle9iAS Web Cache release 9.0 and provides pointers to additional information. New features information from previous releases is also retained to help those users migrating to the current release.

The following sections describe the new features:

• New Features in Release 2 (9.0.2)

• New Features in Release 2.0

New Features in Release 2 (9.0.2)

The new features for Oracle9iAS Web Cache in release 2 (9.0.2) include:

• Automatically Restarting a Cache Server

  The auto-restart process checks that the cache server process is running and automatically restarts it if it is not running.

  See Also: Task 6: Configure Auto-Restart Process Settings

• Cache Hierarchy

  You can deploy Oracle9iAS Web Caches in a cache hierarchy so that an Oracle9iAS Web Cache server caches content from another Oracle9iAS Web Cache.

  See Also: "Cache Hierarchies"

• Cache Cluster

  You can configure multiple instances of Oracle9iAS Web Cache to run as members of a cache cluster. Cache clusters provide failure detection and failover of Web caches, increasing the availability of your Web site.

  See Also: Chapter 3, "Cache Clustering"

• Edge Side Includes (ESI) Enhancements

  This release of ESI provides support for the following:

  • Embedded HTML content with the <esi:inline> tag

  • Custom environment variables with the <esi:environment> tag

  • Expanded <esi:include> tag support that provides attributes for specifying expiration, fragment time-out, and the HTTP request method. In addition, new elements enable you to specify the HTTP request body of a fragment and the HTTP request header field and value for Oracle9iAS Web Cache to use.

    See Also: Appendix D, "Edge Side Includes Language"

• HTTPS Support Between Oracle9iAS Web Cache and Application Web Servers

  In addition to HTTPS protocol support between browsers and Oracle9iAS Web Cache, you can configure Oracle9iAS Web Cache for HTTPS support between Oracle9iAS Web Cache and origin servers.

  See Also: "Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Support"

• Invalidation Propagation

  Invalidation messages are propagated in a cache hierarchy whereby one Oracle9iAS Web Cache server acts as an origin server for another Oracle9iAS Web Cache server. They are also propagated in a cache cluster with multiple Oracle9iAS Web Cache servers.

  See Also: "Invalidation Propagation" "Example: Propagating Invalidation Requests Throughout a Cache Cluster"

• Invalidation Preview

  You can preview the list of documents to be invalidated.

  See Also: "Invalidation Preview Request Syntax" "Manual Invalidation Using Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager"

• Listing the Contents of a Cache

  You can generate a list of the URLs of the most popular documents stored in the cache and a list of the URLs of all of the objects currently in the cache.

  See Also: "Listing the Contents of the Cache"

• Oracle Enterprise Manager Support

  You can use Oracle Enterprise Manager for monitoring Oracle9iAS Web Cache. Oracle Enterprise Manager provides a Web-based tool that enables you to view Oracle9iAS Web Cache status and performance metrics.

  See Also: "Oracle Enterprise Manager for Metrics" Oracle9i Application Server Administrator's Guide

• Proxy Server Support

  In addition to application Web servers for internal sites, you can configure Oracle9iAS Web Cache to send cache misses to proxy servers for external sites protected by a firewall.

  See Also: "Task 9: Specify Settings for Origin Servers"

• Site Support

  You can configure Oracle9iAS Web Cache to cache and assemble dynamic content for one or more Web sites.

  See Also: "Site Support"

• webcachectl Commands

  webcachectl provides new commands for finer-grain control of the auto-restart process, cache server process, and admin server process.

  See Also: "webcachectl Utility for Process Administration"

New Features in Release 2.0

The new features for Oracle9iAS Web Cache in release 2.0 include:

• Cacheability Attributes in HTTP Response Messages

  Application developers can add some of the cacheability attributes to the header of an HTTP response message for a document. This feature enables the application Web server to override the settings configured through the Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager interface, as well as allowing other third-party caches to use Oracle9iAS Web Cache cacheability attributes.

  See Also: "Configuring Caching Attributes in Response Headers"

• Caching Selectors

  In addition to a document's URL, cacheability can also be evaluated against a document's HTTP request method or the body of an HTTP POST method.

  See Also: "Configuring Caching Rules"

• Cache Status Information in HTTP Response Messages

  Cache hit and cache miss information is added to the Server response-header field of the HTTP response message. This feature enables you to determine whether a request was served from the cache or the application Web server.

  See Also: "Cache Freshness and Performance Assurance"

• Compression

  In addition to cacheable documents, non-cacheable documents can be now be compressed.

  See Also: "Configuring Caching Rules"

• ESI

  ESI is a simple markup language that enables content assembly of dynamic HTML fragments. It provides for assembly by enabling Web pages to be broken down into fragments of differing cacheability profiles. Each fragment is a separate object with its own cacheability rule.

  See Also: "Content Assembly and Partial Page Caching" Appendix D, "Edge Side Includes Language"

• HTTPS Support

  Oracle9iAS Web Cache is able to cache pages for HTTPS requests.

  See Also: "Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Support"

• Improved Invalidation

  Invalidation messages can be based on the exact URL that includes the complete path and file name or more advanced invalidation selectors. Advanced selectors include the URL prefix, HTTP request method, cookie, and HTTP request header.

  See Also: "Invalidating Documents in the Cache"