All web content published in the ECU WebCMS is subject to caching. The cache acts as a temporary storage of web content to reduce the load and increase the speed at which the web infrastructure can serve information.
Caching occurs at two stages:
- Client side (your web browser); and
- Server side (ECU's web servers)
When any user views an ECU web page, two checks are performed:
- The client side cache is checked to see if it has a temporary record of the page that is less than three hours old - if so, the user will see this page. If not, the browser will request and store a new version of the page for the next three hours.
- The server cache will perform a similar check when a web browser requests a page. It will determine if it has a saved version of the page in its temporary storage that is less than 12 hours old. If so, this page is sent to the user. If not, the cache will request and save a fresh version of the page from the ECU WebCMS and send this version to the user. This saved (or "cached") content is then set to expire in 12 hours.
Any other user requesting the same content within a 12 hour period will be sent the version from the cache.
A simplified diagram of the caching process is available below: