A Cache Architecture for Modernizing the Usenet Infrastructure

Current Internet users see the combination of World-wide Web (WWW) and electronic mail as a synonym for the Internet. While WWW is excellent for easy and fast dissemination of information and email facilitates efficient communication, a means for wide-spread, threaded discussion and interchange of information among large groups of users is still necessary. WWW has experienced a tremendous innovation boost during the last years resulting in an elaborate networking infrastructure. Usenet News, however, has only been slightly improved over its initial definition, which is no longer apt for the increased data volume. Concepts such as caching and proxies that have proven necessary and useful for other systems of comparable size have to find their way into Usenet News. When modernizing a widely used system, continuous operation must be guaranteed. In this paper, we present and analyze different approaches that can solve the scalability problems of the current Usenet News infrastructure.