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Web Cache Communication Protocol Version 1

Web Cache Communication Protocol Version 1

This appendix describes the Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP) Version 1 feature. It includes information on the benefits of this new feature, supported platforms, and other information you may need to work with WCCP Version 1.

Feature Overview

The Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP) feature allows you to use a Cache Engine to handle web traffic, thus reducing transmission costs and downloading time. This traffic includes user requests to view pages and graphics on World Wide Web servers, whether internal or external to your network, and the replies to those requests. Figure B-1 shows a sample WCCP network configuration.


Figure B-1: Sample Cache Engine Network Configuration


When a user (client) requests a page from a web server (located in the Internet, in this case), the router sends the request to a Cache Engine (Cache 1, Cache 2, or Cache 3). If the cache engine has a copy of the requested page in storage, the engine sends the user that page. Otherwise, the engine gets the requested page and the objects on that page from the web server, stores a copy of the page and its objects (caches them), and forwards the page and objects to the user.

WCCP transparently redirects HTTP requests from the intended server to a Cache Engine. End users do not know that the page came from the cache engine rather than the originally requested web server.

Benefits

Web caches reduce transmissions costs and the amount of time required to download web files. If a client requests a web page that is already cached, the request and data only have to travel between the Cache Engine and the client. Without a web cache, the request and reply must travel over the Internet or wide-area network. Cached pages can be loaded faster than noncached pages and do not have to be transmitted from the Internet to your network.

IOS support of WCCP provides a transparent web cache solution. Users can benefit from web proxy caches without having to configure clients to contact a specific proxy server in order to access web resources. Many web proxy caches require clients to access web resources through a specific proxy web server rather than using the originally requested web server URL. With WCCP, the clients send web requests to the desired web server URL. IOS routers intelligently intercept HTTP requests and transparently redirect them to a Cache Engine.

Redirection Process

When a Web Cache Communication Protocol-enabled router receives an IP packet, the router determines if the packet is a request that should be directed to a Cache Engine. The router looks for TCP as the protocol field in the IP header and for 80 as the destination port in the TCP header. If the packet meets these criteria, it is redirected to a Cache Engine.

Through communication with the Cache Engines, the routers running WCCP are aware of available cache engines.

Changes for Release 11.1(18)CA and Release 11.2(13)P

In IOS Release 11.1(18)CA and Release 11.2(13)P, the following changes were made:

Related Documents

Supported Platforms

In Release 11.1 CA, this feature is supported on these platforms:

In Release 11.2 P, this feature is supported on these platforms:

Prerequisites

To use the Web Cache Communication Protocol, IP must be configured on the interface connected to the Internet and the interface connected to the Cache Engine.

The interface connected to the Cache Engine must be an Ethernet or Fast Ethernet interface.

Configuration Tasks

Configuring the Cache Engine

To use WCCP, the Cache Engine must be properly configured. Keep these important points in mind:

To configure WCCP on the router, you must perform the following tasks. The first task is required, while the second is optional.

Enabling WCCP on the Router

To enable an interface to redirect web traffic to the Cache Engine using the WCCP Version 1, perform the following tasks beginning in global configuration mode:

Task Command

    1. Enable the router to use the WCCP.

ip wccp enable

    2. (Optional) Specify the redirect access list. Only packets that match this access list are redirected. If you do not configure this command, all web-based packets are redirected.

ip wccp redirect-list {number | name}

    3. Enter interface configuration mode.

interface interface

    4. Configure the interface connected to the Internet to redirect web traffic to the Cache Engine.

ip web-cache redirect

    5. (Optional) If the client and a Cache Engine are located on the same network, configure the router to use the fast switching path on the interface.

ip route-cache same-interface

    6. Exit configuration mode.

end

    7. Save the configuration.

copy running-config startup-config

Monitoring the Web Cache Communication Protocol

To monitor WCCP, perform any of the following tasks in EXEC mode:

Task Command

Display global WCCP statistics.

show ip wccp

Display information about all known Cache Engines.

show ip wccp web-caches

Show whether web cache redirecting is enabled on an interface.

show ip interface

The show ip wccp and show ip wccp web-caches commands display a count of the number of packets redirected. Use the clear ip wccp EXEC command to clear this counter.

Configuration Example

The following example configures a router to support WCCP Version 1 and to redirect web-related packets from Ethernet interface 0 to the Cache Engine:

Router# configure terminal Router(config)# ip wccp enable Router(config)# interface Ethernet 0 Router(config-if)# ip web-cache redirect Router(config-if)# end Router# %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console. Router# copy running-config startup-config

After the router has been configured, use the show ip wccp web-cache command to verify that WCCP is enabled and aware of Cache Engines. In this example, the show ip wccp web-cache command is entered immediately after the router has been configured. After a few seconds, the Cache Engine becomes usable, as seen in the second output.

Router# show ip wccp web-cache WCCP Web-Cache information:         IP Address:            192.168.51.102         Protocol Version:      0.3         State:                 NOT Usable         Initial Hash Info:     FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF                                FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF         Assigned Hash Info:    00000000000000000000000000000000                                00000000000000000000000000000000         Hash Allotment: 0 (0.00%)         Packets Redirected: 0         Connect Time: 00:00:06

Router# show ip wccp web-cache WCCP Web-Cache information:         IP Address             192.168.51.102         Protocol Version:      0.3         State:                 Usable         Initial Hash Info:     FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF                                FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF         Assigned Hash Info:    FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF                                FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF         Hash Allotment:        256 (100.00%)         Packets Redirected:    0         Connect Time:          00:00:31

Command Reference

This section documents new or modified commands. All other commands used with this feature are documented in the IOS Release 11.1 or Release 11.2 command references.

This section documents the following new debug commands:

clear ip wccp

To clear the counter for packets redirected by the Web Cache Communication Protocol, use the clear ip wccp EXEC command.

clear ip wccp

Syntax Description

This command has no arguments or keywords.

Command Mode

EXEC

Usage Guidelines

This command first appeared in IOS Release 11.2 P and IOS Release 11.1 CA.

The "Packets Redirected" count is displayed by the show ip wccp and show ip wccp web-caches commands.

Example

The following example shows output from the show ip wccp web-caches command before and after the clear ip wccp command is used:

Router# show ip wccp web-caches WCCP Web-Cache information:         IP Address:            192.168.88.11         Protocol Version:      1.0         State:                 Usable         Initial Hash Info:     AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA                                AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA         Assigned Hash Info:    FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF                                FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF         Hash Allotment:        256 (100.00%)         Packets Redirected:    21345         Connect Time:          00:13:46 Router# clear ip wccp Router# show ip wccp web-caches WCCP Web-Cache information:         IP Address:            192.168.88.11         Protocol Version:      1.0         State:                 Usable         Initial Hash Info:     AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA                                AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA         Assigned Hash Info:    FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF                                FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF         Hash Allotment:        256 (100.00%)         Packets Redirected:    0         Connect Time:          00:13:46

Related Commands

show ip wccp
show ip wccp web-caches

ip wccp enable

To enable the router to support WCCP, use the ip wccp enable global configuration command. The no form of this command disables support for the Web Cache Communication Protocol.

ip wccp enable
no ip wccp enable


Syntax Description

This command has no arguments or keywords.

Default

WCCP is disabled on the router.

Command Mode

Global configuration

Usage Guidelines

This command first appeared in IOS Release 11.2 P and Release 11.1 CA.

This command and the ip web-cache redirect interface command are the only commands required to start redirecting requests to the Cache Engine using WCCP. To see if the WCCP is enabled on the router, use the show ip wccp command.

When this command is enabled but the ip web-cache redirect command is disabled, the router is aware of caches but does not use them.

Use the ip wccp redirect-list command to limit the redirection of packets to those matching an access list.

Example

The following example configures a router to support WCCP and redirects web-related packets from Ethernet interface 0 to the Cache Engine:

Router# configure terminal Router(config)# ip wccp enable Router(config)# interface Ethernet 0 Router(config-if)# ip web-cache redirect Router(config-if)# end Router# %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console.

Related Commands

ip wccp redirect-list
ip web-cache redirect
show ip wccp
show ip wccp web-caches

ip wccp redirect-list

To specify which packets are redirected to a Cache Engine, use the ip wccp redirect-list global configuration command. The no form of this command enables redirection of all packets.

ip wccp redirect-list {number | name}

Syntax Description

number

Standard or extended IP access list number from 1 to 199.

name

Standard or extended IP access list name. This argument is only available in Release 11.2 P.

Default

All HTTP packets are redirected to the Cache Engine.

Command Mode

Global configuration

Usage Guidelines

This command first appeared in IOS Release 11.2 P and Release 11.1 CA.

Use this command to specify which packets should be redirected to the Cache Engine. When WCCP is enabled but this command is not configured, all web-related packets are redirected to the Cache Engine. When you enter this command, only packets that match the access list are redirected.

Some Web sites use the source IP address of packets for authentication. The Cache Engine uses its own IP address when sending requests to Web sites. Thus, the requests from the Cache Engine may not be authenticated. Use this command to bypass the Cache Engine in these cases.

Use the ip wccp enable and ip web-cache redirect commands to configure WCCP.

Example

The following example configures a router to redirect web-related packets without a destination of 192.168.196.51 to the Cache Engine:

Router# configure terminal Router(config)# access-list 100 deny ip any host 192.168.196.51 Router(config)# access-list 100 permit ip any any Router(config)# ip wccp enable Router(config)# ip wccp redirect-list 100 Router(config)# interface Ethernet 0 Router(config-if)# ip web-cache redirect Router(config-if)# end Router# %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console.

Related Commands

clear ip wccp
ip wccp enable
ip web-cache redirect
show ip wccp

ip web-cache redirect

To instruct an interface to check for appropriate outgoing packets and redirect them to a Cache Engine, use the ip web-cache redirect interface configuration command. The no form of this command disables the redirection of messages to the Cache Engine.

ip web-cache redirect
no ip web-cache redirect


Syntax Description

This command has no arguments or keywords.

Default

The interface does not redirect messages to the Cache Engine.

Command Mode

Interface configuration

Usage Guidelines

This command first appeared in IOS Release 11.2 P and Release 11.1 CA.

This command and the ip wccp enable interface command are the only commands required to start redirecting requests to the Cache Engine using WCCP.

Example

The following example configures a router to support WCCP and redirects web-related packets from Ethernet interface 0 to the Cache Engine:

Router# configure terminal Router(config)# ip wccp enable Router(config)# interface Ethernet 0 Router(config-if)# ip web-cache redirect Router(config-if)# end Router# %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console.

Related Commands

clear ip wccp
ip wccp enable
ip wccp redirect-list
show ip interface
show ip wccp
show ip wccp web-caches

show ip interface

To display the usability status of interfaces configured for IP, use the show ip interface EXEC command.

show ip interface [type number]

Syntax Description

type

(Optional) Interface type.

number

(Optional) Interface number.

Command Mode

EXEC

Usage Guidelines

This command first appeared in IOS Release 10.0.

The IOS software automatically enters a directly connected route in the routing table if the interface is usable. A usable interface is one through which the software can send and receive packets. If the software determines that an interface is not usable, it removes the directly connected routing entry from the routing table. Removing the entry allows the software to use dynamic routing protocols to determine backup routes to the network (if any).

If the interface can provide two-way communication, the line protocol is marked "up." If the interface hardware is usable, the interface is marked "up."

If you specify an optional interface type, you will see only information on that specific interface.

If you specify no optional arguments, you will see information on all the interfaces.

When an asynchronous interface is encapsulated with PPP or SLIP, IP fast switching is enabled. A show ip interface command on an asynchronous interface encapsulated with PPP or SLIP displays a message indicating that IP fast switching is enabled.

Sample Display

The following is sample output from the show ip interface command:

Router# show ip interface Ethernet0 is up, line protocol is up Internet address is 192.195.78.24, subnet mask is 255.255.255.240 Broadcast address is 255.255.255.255 Address determined by non-volatile memory MTU is 1500 bytes Helper address is not set Secondary address 131.192.115.2, subnet mask 255.255.255.0   Directed broadcast forwarding is enabled Multicast groups joined: 224.0.0.1 224.0.0.2 Outgoing access list is not set Inbound access list is not set Proxy ARP is enabled Security level is default Split horizon is enabled ICMP redirects are always sent ICMP unreachables are always sent ICMP mask replies are never sent IP fast switching is enabled IP fast switching on the same interface is disabled IP SSE switching is disabled Router Discovery is disabled IP output packet accounting is disabled IP access violation accounting is disabled TCP/IP header compression is disabled Probe proxy name replies are disabled   Web Cache Redirect is enabled

describes the fields shown in the display

.


Table B-1: Fields
Field Description

Ethernet0 is up

If the interface hardware is usable, the interface is marked "up." For an interface to be usable, both the interface hardware and line protocol must be up.

line protocol is up

If the interface can provide two-way communication, the line protocol is marked "up." For an interface to be usable, both the interface hardware and line protocol must be up.

Broadcast address

Shows the broadcast address.

Address determined by...

Indicates how the IP address of the interface was determined.

MTU

Shows the MTU value set on the interface.

Helper address

Shows a helper address, if one has been set.

Secondary address

Shows a secondary address, if one has been set.

Directed broadcast forwarding

Indicates whether directed broadcast forwarding is enabled.

Multicast groups joined

Indicates the multicast groups this interface is a member of.

Outgoing access list

Indicates whether the interface has an outgoing access list set.

Inbound access list

Indicates whether the interface has an incoming access list set.

Proxy ARP

Indicates whether Proxy ARP is enabled for the interface.

Security level

Specifies the IPSO security level set for this interface.

ICMP redirects

Specifies whether redirects will be sent on this interface.

ICMP unreachables

Specifies whether unreachable messages will be sent on this interface.

ICMP mask replies

Specifies whether mask replies will be sent on this interface.

IP fast switching

Specifies whether fast switching has been enabled for this interface. It is generally enabled on serial interfaces, such as this one.

IP SSE switching

Specifies whether IP SSE switching is enabled.

Router Discovery

Specifies whether the discovery process has been enabled for this interface. It is generally disabled on serial interfaces.

IP output packet accounting

Specifies whether IP accounting is enabled for this interface and what the threshold (maximum number of entries) is.

TCP/IP header compression

Indicates whether compression is enabled or disabled.

Probe proxy name

Indicates whether HP Probe proxy name replies are generated.

Web Cache Redirect

Indicates whether HTTP packets are redirected to a Cache Engine.

show ip wccp

To display global statistics related to WCCP, use the show ip wccp EXEC command.

show ip wccp

Syntax Description

This command has no arguments or keywords.

Command Mode

EXEC

Usage Guidelines

This command first appeared in IOS Release 11.2 P and Release 11.1 CA.

Use the clear ip wccp command to reset the counter for the "Packets Redirected" information.

Example

The following example shows sample show ip wccp output:

Router# show ip wccp Global WCCP information: Number of web-caches: 2 Total Packets Redirected: 101 Redirect access-list: no_linux Total Packets Denied Redirect: 88 Total Packets Unassigned: 0

Table B-1 describes fields shown in this example.


Table B-2: Fields
Field Description

Number of web-caches

Number of Cache Engines using the router as their home router.

Total Packets Redirected

Total number of packets redirected by the router.

Redirect access-list

Name or number of the redirect access list. Only packets matching the access list are redirected.

Total Packets Denied Redirect

Total number of packets that were not redirected because they did not match the access list.

Total Packets Unassigned

Number of packets that were not redirected because they were not assigned to any web cache. Packets may not be assigned during intial discovery of Cache Engines or when a cache is dropped from a farm.

Related Commands

clear ip wccp
ip wccp enable
ip wccp redirect-list
ip web-cache redirect
show ip interface
show ip wccp web-caches

show ip wccp web-caches

To display information about the router's known Cache Engines, use the show ip wccp web-caches EXEC command.

show ip wccp web-caches

Syntax Description

This command has no arguments or keywords.

Command Mode

EXEC

Usage Guidelines

This command first appeared in IOS Release 11.2 P and Release 11.1 CA.

Use the clear ip wccp command to reset the counter for the "Packets Redirected" information.

Example

The following example shows sample show ip wccp web-caches output:

Router# show ip wccp web-caches WCCP Web-Cache information:         IP Address:            192.168.88.11         Protocol Version:      1.0         State:                 Usable         Initial Hash Info:     AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA                                AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA         Assigned Hash Info:    FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF                                FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF         Hash Allotment:        256 (100.00%)         Packets Redirected:    21345         Connect Time:          00:13:46

Table B-3 explains the fields shown in this display.


Table B-3: show ip wccp web-caches Field Descriptions
Field Description

IP Address

IP address of the Cache Engine.

Protocol Version

Version of the Web Cache Communication Protocol the Cache Engine is running.

State

State of the Cache Engine. Possible values are "Usable" and "NOT Usable."

Initial Hash Info

Initial contents of the hash field. The hash field contains information about how the router intends to use the Cache Engine.

Assigned Hash Info

Current hash information of the Cache Engine. The hash information field contains information about how the router intends to use the Cache Engine.

Hash Allotment

Percentage of all possible web servers for which the router redirects HTTP requests to this Web cache. In this example, there is only one Cache Engine, so all HTTP requests are redirected to it.

Packets Redirected

Number of packets redirected to this Cache Engine.

Connect Time

Indicates how long the Cache Engine has used this router as its home router.

Related Commands

clear ip wccp
ip wccp enable
ip web-cache redirect
show ip interface
show ip wccp

debug ip wccp events

Use the debug ip wccp events EXEC command to display information about significant WCCP events. The no form of this command disables debugging output.

[no] debug ip wccp events

Example

The following example is a sample debug ip wccp events command output when a Cache Engine is added to the list of available Web caches.

Router# debug ip wccp events WCCP-EVNT: Built I_See_You msg body w/1 usable web caches, change # 0000000A WCCP-EVNT: Web Cache 192.168.25.3 added WCCP-EVNT: Built I_See_You msg body w/2 usable web caches, change # 0000000B WCCP-EVNT: Built I_See_You msg body w/2 usable web caches, change # 0000000C

debug ip wccp packets

Use the debug ip wccp packets EXEC command to display information about every WCCP packet received or sent by the router. The no form of this command disables debugging output.

[no] debug ip wccp packets

Example

The following example is a sample debug ip wccp packets command output. The router is sending keepalive packets to the Cache Engines at 192.168.25.4 and 192.168.25.3. Each keepalive packet has an identification number associated with it. When the Cache Engine receives a keepalive packet from the router, it sends a reply with the identification number back to the router.

Router# debug ip wccp packets WCCP-PKT: Received valid Here_I_Am packet from 192.168.25.4 w/rcvd_id 00003532 WCCP-PKT: Sending I_See_You packet to 192.168.25.4 w/ rcvd_id 00003534 WCCP-PKT: Received valid Here_I_Am packet from 192.168.25.3 w/rcvd_id 00003533 WCCP-PKT: Sending I_See_You packet to 192.168.25.3 w/ rcvd_id 00003535 WCCP-PKT: Received valid Here_I_Am packet from 192.168.25.4 w/rcvd_id 00003534 WCCP-PKT: Sending I_See_You packet to 192.168.25.4 w/ rcvd_id 00003536 WCCP-PKT: Received valid Here_I_Am packet from 192.168.25.3 w/rcvd_id 00003535 WCCP-PKT: Sending I_See_You packet to 192.168.25.3 w/ rcvd_id 00003537 WCCP-PKT: Received valid Here_I_Am packet from 192.168.25.4 w/rcvd_id 00003536 WCCP-PKT: Sending I_See_You packet to 192.168.25.4 w/ rcvd_id 00003538 WCCP-PKT: Received valid Here_I_Am packet from 192.168.25.3 w/rcvd_id 00003537 WCCP-PKT: Sending I_See_You packet to 192.168.25.3 w/ rcvd_id 00003539

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Posted: Fri Feb 1 16:46:39 PST 2002
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