Hierarchical caching simulation with visualisation

Within the Internet, intermediary storage is ina easingly being used to hold popular files that need to be geographically distributed. Known as Content Distribution Networks (CDNs), storage in the network can alleviate load on ser vers, intermediary links plus potentially reduce download time for data consumers. Well known CDNs such as Akamai, Amazon, NetFiix or even Dropbox have become household names. However, understanding the behavior of caches, an essential part of the CDNs is non-trivial. This is because the system is highly dynamic: content, requests, topologies, eviction policies, spatial and temporal diversities make exact predictions of what to stm·e and what to evict difficult. Thus, we have taken a two-pronged approach to this problem. First was to build a hierarchical simulator and second was to visualize the cache dynamics for a quantitative and qualitative understanding of the system. Ultimately, we would like to be able to optimally place, dimension and manage the caches we introduce into the Internet infrastructure and use and manage them wit hout superfluous configuration.