[TelstraClear] SOLVED - Telstra Proxy Cache Frustration

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] SOLVED - Telstra Proxy Cache Frustration

jamgol

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#48895 17-Nov-2009 14:50

Does anyone know how to avoid / disable / bypass / turnoff the proxy and caching without resorting to another proxy ?

I'm a warp speed customer and I just want direct Internet access, is that really to much to ask ?

Yesterday I updated a whole pile of exe files on a UK webhost ... more than 24 hours later I have still being served the cached versions while all my customers get the correct updated versions ... apparently none of their ISP's cache like Telstra does.

What annoy's me even more is how blatantly obvious it is that your being given files from the cache. 2,5Mb per second from a UK webhost!, I don't think so Telstra ... don't give me your cached rubbish !

Has anyone managed to get them to turn it off on their account ?

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42 posts

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#273883 17-Nov-2009 14:58

The Proxy reports itself as "1.1 bc3" and "1.1 bc2".

Anyone know what software it is they are using ?

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

chiefie

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#273888 17-Nov-2009 15:05

I must ask... why others have problem with TCL's proxy/cache on cable network, yet I haven't experienced any of the frustration? Have I been that lucky?? (I don't want to think it so though)

Are you in Wellington or Christchurch? I'm in Christchurch and I'm using Paradise DNS (I think, need to confirm later when I get home).

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jamgol

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#273897 17-Nov-2009 15:18

I'm in CHCH as well.
I think the proxy is fine for 99% of people, but if your doing web design / maintenance it can be a real pain in the butt, especially if your working with static files that get updated regularly (several times a day in my case)

It's easy enough to use a remote proxy to get around it but why should we have too ?

I give Telstra $230 a month for this connection, all I'd like is direct Internet access !

chiefie

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#273917 17-Nov-2009 15:54

Hmmm perhaps you wanna try (during development stage) to have cache control? http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html

I don't know what else is happening and I do hope TCL be provide direct internet access too, seeing that s92a/b/c be happening soon, some ISPs are already stated that they'll provide direct internet access for no-filter connection.

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michaeln

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#273918 17-Nov-2009 15:55

Cache-Control: no-cache
or
pragma: no-cache

but, can you give a URL to help understand why the web site is having problems with the caches?

Have you logged a fault?

It's not possible to not cache for a particular account. It is possible to put a site into a cache bypass list.

jamgol

42 posts

Geek

#273938 17-Nov-2009 16:26

The site that prompted this post is: http://recruitstudio.co.uk/download.shtml

Unfortunately I don't have control of the site code (wish I did !) I'm just involved with the files in the Download section, as you'll see they are just static files that are replaced with an updated version each day.
Because the file name stays the same and nothing changes on the site when the files are updated the cache assumes nothing has changed I guess.

Yes, I logged a fault and was told by the technican that Telstra does not use any proxy software ..... he was not willing to accept any proof to show him otherwise.

I'm involved with too many sites to bypass each one manually and unfortunately I don't have code control over many of them.

Strange that other ISP's don't seem to cache like this. There are over 500 people around the world who download the files on the site above every couple of days ..... none of them have cache problems like I do with Telstra, not even our offices in China have problems like this !.

Updating CSS or static images on any site has to be the worst of all though, I don't even bother trying to get the Telstra cache to refresh any more.

I guess I'll just stick with my remote proxy for now.

chiefie

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#273940 17-Nov-2009 16:34

Honestly though... I don't experience the issues you mentioned as I work with web as well... have you tried Clear.net DNS?

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jamgol

42 posts

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#273944 17-Nov-2009 16:39

Hi Chiefie, this has nothing to do with DNS cache, I don't have any problems there.
Telstra caches the actual web content itself which allows them to save massive amounts of international data.

michaeln

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#273963 17-Nov-2009 17:24

jamgol: The site that prompted this post is: http://recruitstudio.co.uk/download.shtml

Yes, I logged a fault and was told by the technican that Telstra does not use any proxy software ..... he was not willing to accept any proof to show him otherwise.

Did you use the word 'proxy' or 'cache'? He should know that TelstraClear uses caches.

The .NET framework doesn't appear to have changed for a while, whereas the other two files are showing recent updates

% curl -I http://www.recruitstudio.co.uk/download/NetFx20SP2_x86.exe
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Last-Modified: Tue, 12 May 2009 14:14:22 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
ETag: "94cdddf2bd3c91:2101d"
Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:25:52 GMT
Via: 1.1 bc5
Content-Length: 25001480
Connection: Keep-Alive

% curl -I http://www.recruitstudio.co.uk/download/new%20version/rsclient.msi
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Last-Modified: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:17:37 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
ETag: "7c9c98cc766ca1:2101d"
Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:26:27 GMT
Via: 1.1 bc5
Content-Length: 6359040
Connection: Keep-Alive

% curl -I http://www.recruitstudio.co.uk/download/new%20version/rsdbs1install.msi
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Last-Modified: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:22:40 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
ETag: "fccdf9a2d066ca1:2101d"
Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:26:32 GMT
Via: 1.1 bc5
Content-Length: 3510784
Connection: Keep-Alive
Connection: Keep-Alive

Can you confirm that after you change one of these files, "Last-Modified:", "ETag:" and "Content-Length:" also change?

jamgol

42 posts

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#273968 17-Nov-2009 17:41

It's the "rsclient.msi" that is updated the most. The new file is dumped via ftp overwritting the old file.

Modified date should definately change but I'll check when the next update comes through (should be later tonight).

CSS and image updates cause me more of a headache than these though. For example recent CSS and design changes to: http://news.antal.com/ took over 36 hours to get through the cache yet the people that add the content saw the changes instantly !.

LennonNZ

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#273972 17-Nov-2009 17:46

Have you tried?

http://www.recruitstudio.co.uk/download/new%20version/rsdbs1install.msi?randomumber ??

jamgol

42 posts

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#273973 17-Nov-2009 17:51

Should I have too when I'm paying that much for an Internet connection ?

Sorry LennonNZ, it's just one example of many to illustrate my frustration with the caching that's in place.

I wouldn't mind if every ISP cached like this .... but they don't.

Ragnor

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#273975 17-Nov-2009 17:56

Generally caching is a good thing, improves response time and download speed.

Normally the cache should put through a request to the url to check the headers notice the last-modifed or content-length has changed and replace it's cached copy.

For some reason it sounds like it's not doing this for your particular files/urls. Sometimes caching proxy servers can get confused when you've changed the files but not the files names.

The standard workaround for this issue is to append a date or id to the query string of your links in the html.

eg:
Before: http://www.recruitstudio.co.uk/download/new%20version/rsclient.msi
After: http://www.recruitstudio.co.uk/download/new%20version/rsclient.msi?t=20091117

Next time you update the files increment the timestamp in the links.

You will see many websites use this technique for their css and js files to get around over aggressive caching.

Basically you want static objects cached up until you update them, then when you update the file you want the caches to get the new version you either need to change the filename or the query string linking to the object.

jamgol

42 posts

Geek

#273976 17-Nov-2009 18:07

Thanks Ragnor, I 100% agree with you.

However my point remains, on Telecom ADSL I do not get any of these problems. I have no idea what they do differently or how, but I've never had an issue beyond a couple of clicks of the refresh button.

I won't be changing, Warpspeed is fantastic and would be utterly perfect if I could resolve this gererally .... not for just one or two specific examples.

michaeln

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#274173 18-Nov-2009 11:12

jamgol: It's the "rsclient.msi" that is updated the most. The new file is dumped via ftp overwritting the old file.

Modified date should definately change but I'll check when the next update comes through (should be later tonight).

CSS and image updates cause me more of a headache than these though. For example recent CSS and design changes to: http://news.antal.com/ took over 36 hours to get through the cache yet the people that add the content saw the changes instantly !.

Well, I just checked rsclient.msi and its characteristics (Last-Modified, ETag and Content-Length) have not changed. Which means that the server is explicitly saying that the file has not changed and the caching it is a Good Thing.

I've looked at http://news.antal.com and there are two css files, apart from any hidden behind the PHP. They don't seem to have changed for a while:

% curl -I http://news.antal.com/wp-content/themes/fusion/style.css
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:56:25 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.34 Ben-SSL/1.55
Last-Modified: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:50:56 GMT
ETag: "200561a7-8865-4ae724f0"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Type: text/css
Via: 1.1 bc2
Content-Length: 34917
Connection: Keep-Alive

% curl -I http://news.antal.com/wp-content/themes/fusion/ie6.css
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:57:01 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.34 Ben-SSL/1.55
Last-Modified: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:10:15 GMT
ETag: "20059214-384-4aa5cb17"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Type: text/css
Via: 1.1 bc2
Content-Length: 900
Connection: Keep-Alive

Are those the ones you mean, or are there others that have changed more recently?

As a matter of interest, what is your browser?

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