Investigating structure of modern web traffic

Abstract

Modern websites consist of many rich objects dynamically produced by servers and client terminals at diverse locations. Consequently, we face complications in understanding the communication structure generated when accessing websites. To reduce the response time at browsed websites, many website objects are delivered using content delivery networks (CDNs), in which data objects are delivered from cache servers located close to user terminals. Although the use of CDNs have been assumed to reduce web response time, the actual effect of CDNs on this reduction has not been clarified. To answer this fundamental question, we measured the communication structure of traffic generated when accessing the 1,000 most popular websites from 12 locations worldwide. We found, for example, that it will be desirable to give high priority to entertainment websites at night and to business-related websites during the day.