Dell DX6004S DX Object Storage Application Guide - Page 71

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66

Version 5.0

December 2010

Chapter 18. Using Caching Metadata Headers

This chapter discusses caching metadata headers, which enables clients and caching proxies to

quickly determine whether or not a resource has been modified since the last time it was read.

For a list of all metadata headers supported by DX Storage, see

the Content Metadata appendix

.

18.1. About Caching Headers

HTTP defines several header mechanisms for clients and caching proxies to be able to quickly

determine whether a resource has been modified since the last time the data was read. Within the

DX Storage context, caching headers make proxies more effective by extending the caching period

to its maximum value, essentially telling the proxies, this resource will not change for immutable

objects. With anchor streams, utilization of the caching headers provides a mechanism for clients

to determine if the previous read is the current revision prior to writing an update to an anchor

stream. In order to maintain compatibility with a wide variety of browsers and proxies, DX Storage

implements the caching mechanisms for both HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1.

18.2. Using HTTP/1.0 Caching Headers

In the first version of HTTP, the cache coherency mechanism used time stamps with one second

granularity to decide if a resource had been modified and therefore required invalidating the cached

copy. In addition to the course time granularity which could mask changes made (to anchor streams

for example) in the same second, this approach also requires the client and/or proxy clocks to

be reasonably well synchronized with the server clocks. Although DX Storage will support this

coherency method for compatibility reasons, it is not the preferred mechanism because of these

objections. Note that the value of each header is an HTTP-date as defined in RFC2616.

18.2.1. Last-Modified

DX Storage will return the Last-Modified header for all POST, PUT, GET, and HEAD operations. For

both ordinary objects and anchor streams, the value of the header will be exactly the same as the

Castor-System-Created header. For ordinary objects, this is the original creation time stamp for the

object. For anchor streams, this is the server time at which the alias was last updated.

The Castor-System-Created header will be deprecated and its use within DX Storage will be

replaced with the more standard Last-Modified header. For backward compatibility with previously

stored data, DX Storage will continue to generate both headers and behave as it does now if it

encounters an object with a Castor-System-Created header but without a Last-Modified header. If a

stored object includes both headers, DX Storage will use the value of the Last-Modified header. A

future release will cease generating the deprecated header for newly stored content.

18.2.2. If-Modified-Since

A DX Storage client or proxy can include this header with a GET or HEAD method request. All other

methods will ignore the header if it is present in the request. The If-Modified-Since request header

field is used with a GET to make it conditional. If the requested object has not been modified since

the time specified in this field, an entity will not be returned from the server; instead, a 304 Not

modified response will be returned without any message-body. Please reference

section 14.25

of

the HTTP/1.1 specification for full details.

18.2.3. If-Unmodified-Since

A DX Storage client or proxy can include this header with any of the following methods: GET, PUT,

and DELETE. All other methods will ignore this header if present in the request. The If-Unmodified-

Section	Page
DX Object Storage Application Guide	1
Table of Contents	3
Chapter 1. Introduction to DX Storage Objects	6
1.1. Introducing Named Objects	6
1.2. Summary of Named Objects and Unnamed Objects	7
1.3. Common Named Object Terminology	7
1.4. About DX Storage Object Types	8
1.5. Bucket and Object Naming Rules	8
1.6. Simple Examples of Creating Buckets and Named Objects	8
1.7. Universal Resource Identifiers (URIs)	9
1.8. About Objects and Security	10
1.8.1. The Basics of DX Storage Security	10
1.8.2. Commonly Used Security Terminology	11
1.8.3. Basic Security Guidelines	11
1.9. Concepts for Unnamed Objects	11
1.9.1. Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs)	11
1.9.2. About Immutable Objects	12
1.9.3. About Anchor Streams	12
1.10. Document Typographical Conventions	13
Chapter 2. Connecting to a DX Storage Cluster	14
2.1. About the Primary Access Node (PAN)	14
2.2. Requirements for Node Accessibility	14
2.2.1. Using the DX Storage Software Development Kit (SDK)	14
2.2.2. Using Multicast-DNS (mDNS)	15
2.2.3. Using DNS Round Robin	15
2.2.4. Using a Pool of Static IP Addresses	16
2.2.5. Using a Single Static IP Address	16
Chapter 3. Application Best Practices	17
3.1. Using the Software Development Kit (SDK)	17
3.2. Dynamically Locating DX Storage Nodes	17
3.3. Optimizing Bucket and Domain Operations	17
3.4. Using HTTP Client Libraries	17
3.5. Handling Redirects	18
3.6. Using Range Headers	18
3.7. Multi-Threading	19
3.8. Using Persistent Connections	19
Chapter 4. Introduction to the Simple Content Storage Protocol (SCSP)	20
4.1. Mapping SCSP Operations to HTTP Methods	20
4.2. HTTP Overview	21
4.3. Requests and Responses	21
4.3.1. HTTP Response Codes	21
4.3.2. Redirect Responses	22
4.4. Formatting SCSP Commands for Named and Unnamed Objects	22
4.5. Undefined Responses from DX Storage	23
4.6. Normal Response Headers	24
Chapter 5. SCSP READ	27
5.1. Introduction to READ	27
5.1.1. Reading With Content Validation	27
5.1.2. Requestion Node Status and Cluster Capacity	27
5.2. Unnamed Object READ Details	28
5.3. Normal Responses to READ	28
5.3.1. Normal READ Responses for Named Objects	28
5.3.1.1. Normal READ Response for a Domain	28
5.3.1.2. Normal READ Response for a Bucket	29
5.3.1.3. Normal READ Response for a Named Object	29
5.3.2. Normal READ Response for Unnamed Objects	29
5.3.3. Other Normal READ Responses	30
5.4. Error Responses to READ	30
Chapter 6. SCSP WRITE	32
6.1. Introduction to WRITE	32
6.1.1. About the Expect: 100-continue Header and WRITE	33
6.1.2. About Replicate On Write	33
6.2. Named Object WRITE Details	33
6.3. Unnamed Object WRITE Details	33
6.4. Normal Responses to WRITE	33
6.5. Error Responses to WRITE	34
Chapter 7. SCSP DELETE	36
7.1. Introduction to DELETE	36
7.2. Unnamed Object DELETE Details	37
7.3. Named Object DELETE Details	37
7.4. Normal Responses to DELETE	37
7.5. Error Responses to DELETE	38
Chapter 8. SCSP UPDATE	39
8.1. Introduction to UPDATE	39
8.2. Unnamed Object UPDATE Details	39
8.3. Normal Responses to UPDATE	40
Chapter 9. SCSP COPY	41
9.1. Introduction to COPY	41
9.2. Unnamed Object COPY Details	41
9.3. Normal Responses to COPY	41
Chapter 10. SCSP APPEND	42
10.1. Introduction to APPEND	42
10.2. Unnamed Object APPEND Details	43
10.3. Normal Responses to APPEND	43
Chapter 11. SCSP INFO	44
11.1. Introduction to INFO	44
11.1.1. Getting Replica Counts	44
11.1.2. Getting Node Status and Cluster Capacity	44
11.2. Unnamed Object INFO Details	45
11.3. Normal Responses to INFO	45
11.3.1. Normal INFO Responses for Named and Unnamed Objects	45
11.3.2. Normal INFO Responses for Named Objects	46
11.3.3. Normal INFO Responses for Unnamed Objects	47
11.4. Error Responses to INFO	47
Chapter 12. Introduction to Object Security	48
12.1. About Security Roles	48
12.2. Security Realm Overview	49
12.2.1. Common Security Terminology	49
12.2.2. About Security Realms	49
12.2.3. About Realm Caching and Security	49
12.3. About Authorization Header Syntax	50
12.3.1. About Realm Names	51
12.3.1.1. About Realms and Buckets	51
12.3.1.2. About owner@ and @owner Syntax	51
12.3.1.3. About user@realm Syntax	51
12.4. Authorization Specification Examples	51
12.5. About Authorization Header Evaluation	52
12.6. Creating Realms	53
12.7. Updating the Realm on a Bucket	54
12.8. Administrative Override and Security	54
Chapter 13. Managing Security for Application Developers	55
13.1. What Application Developers Need to Know	55
13.2. About Bucket Authorization	55
13.3. Example: Creating Bucket Owners	56
13.4. Examples of Creating Buckets and Named Objects	56
Chapter 14. Managing Security for Domain Managers	59
14.1. What Domain Managers Need to Know	59
14.2. About Domain Manager Tasks and Responsibilities	59
14.3. Examples of Updating Domain and Administrator User Lists	59
14.3.1. Updating the Domain Realm	60
14.3.2. Updating the Domain Manager Realm	61
14.3.3. Updating a Realm Using PUT	62
Chapter 15. Using the Content-MD5 Metadata Header	64
Chapter 16. Using Lifepoint Metadata Headers	65
16.1. About Storage Policies	65
16.2. A Simple Lifecycle Example	65
16.3. Lifepoint/Lifecycle Specification	66
16.4. Constraint Types	66
16.4.1. Replication	67
16.4.2. Deletion	67
Chapter 17. Using the Allow Metadata Header	69
17.1. Overview of the Allow Header	69
17.2. Administrative Override	69
Chapter 18. Using Caching Metadata Headers	71
18.1. About Caching Headers	71
18.2. Using HTTP/1.0 Caching Headers	71
18.2.1. Last-Modified	71
18.2.2. If-Modified-Since	71
18.2.3. If-Unmodified-Since	71
18.2.4. Expires	72
18.3. Using HTTP/1.1 Caching Headers	72
18.3.1. ETag	72
18.3.2. If-Match	72
18.3.3. If-None-Match	73
18.3.4. If-Range	73
Chapter 19. Using Custom Metadata Headers	75
Chapter 20. Basic Content Integrity Assurance	76
20.1. Integrity Seals	76
20.2. Validating Reads	76
20.3. Application Initiated Hash Upgrading	77
Appendix A. Content Header Metadata	78
Appendix B. Sample Code and Client Library Behaviors with 100-Continue	80

Dell DX6004S DX Object Storage Application Guide - Page 71

Using Caching Metadata Headers

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