What is the InterPlanetary File System?
The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a new hypermedia distribution protocol, addressed by content and identities, as opposed to traditional location addressing. IPFS is designed to decentralize the web while simultaneously increasing the spee...
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Cache poisoning is the replacement of legitimately cached web content with spoofed, malicious, or fake data.
Overview
Caching web content improves performance on both the server and the client side. Unfortunately, the HTTP protocol used in the...
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A brute force attack is a method used to obtain encrypted passwords with an automated system that tries every possible combination until it is correct and obtains access.
Overview
Brute force attacks begin with automated software that’s used ...
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Synthetic monitoring is a web performance test that uses robotic agents to simulate a real user’s interaction with a website or web application.
Overview
The overall performance of a website or web application is largely determined by the slow...
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Brotli is an open source, lossless data compression algorithm with a better compression density than gzip that reduces bandwidth consumption and helps content load faster.
Overview
Modern websites and web applications have become more demandin...
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Congestion Window (cwnd) is a TCP state variable that limits the amount of data the TCP can send into the network before receiving an ACK. The Receiver Window (rwnd) is a variable that advertises the amount of data that the destination side can r...
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What is Critical Rendering Path?
Critical rendering path refers to a series of events a browser goes through to render (display) the initial view of a web page on the screen.
Overview
Displaying web pages fast enough to meet user expectations is still a major challenge. Conte...
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Page load time is the time it takes to download and display the entire content of a web page in the browser window (measured in seconds).
Overview
Page load time is a web performance metric that directly impacts user engagement and a business'...
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What is a Web Application Firewall?
A web application firewall (WAF) is an online security solution that filters out bad HTTP traffic between a client and web application.
Overview
Traditional security solutions such as network firewalls, intruder detection systems (IDS), and in...
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A web application is a computer program that utilizes web browsers and web technology to perform tasks over the Internet.
Overview
Millions of businesses use the Internet as a cost-effective communications channel. It lets them exchange inform...
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SQL Injection is the technique of inserting complete or partial SQL commands in user-supplied data fields of web applications and submitting them for execution by the database server.
Overview
Businesses use fields such as contact forms, feedb...
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A web cache is a hardware device or software application for temporarily storing frequently-accessed static content.
Overview
Internet users with similar interests often download the same web content over and over again. Without a proper web c...
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Dynamic content is web content that changes between subsequent requests based on user access time, user preferences, personal information, and other factors in order to deliver a timely, engaging online experience.
Overview
When computing power...
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HTTP/2 is the next major version of the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the protocol used to deliver content over the web.
Overview
Google started development on what would become the basis of HTTP/2 as early as 2010. Known as SPDY, it was...
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Static content is any content that can be delivered to an end user without having to be generated, modified, or processed. The server delivers the same file to each user, making static content one of the simplest and most efficient content types ...
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Micro-caching is the processes of temporarily storing event-driven web content for very brief periods of time (as short as one second).
Overview
A normal website may handle X requests per second with ease, but if this increases to X++ requests...
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HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is a simple website security feature that forces web browsers or user agents to communicate with servers only through HTTPS connections. HSTS improves security and prevents man-in-the-middle attacks, downgrad...
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What is Subresource Integrity (SRI)?
Subresource Integrity (SRI) is a security feature that instructs browsers to verify that resources fetched from third parties like CDNs have been delivered without any manipulation. SRI does this by comparing the hash values of the third-party-ho...
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Definition
Transparent proxies are intermediary systems that sit between a user and a content provider. When a user makes a request to a web server, the transparent proxy intercepts the request to perform various actions including caching, redir...
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Definition
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a protocol for securing communication on the Internet. It provides a way for enterprises to encrypt data before sending it to users, preventing third parties from reading it while it’s in transit.
Overv...
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Definition
WebSocket is a protocol for creating a fast two-way channel between a web browser and a server. WebSocket overcomes limitations with HTTP to allow for low latency communications between a user and a web service.
Overview
As Interne...
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What is a Virtual Private Server?
Definition
A virtual private server (VPS) is a software-created emulation of a physical server within a powerful host server. A single physical host server can be configured to run several virtual private servers, each running its own operating ...
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Definition
TCP slow start is an algorithm that balances the speed of a network connection. Slow start gradually increases the amount of data transmitted until it finds the network’s maximum carrying capacity.
Overview
One of the most common w...
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Definition
Time to first byte (TTFB) is a metric for determining the responsiveness of a web server. It measures the amount of time between creating a connection to the server and downloading the contents of a web page.
Overview
Connecting to...
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Definition
Domain sharding is a technique for splitting resources across multiple domains, improving page load time and search engine visibility. When multiple domains are used, browsers are able to download more resources simultaneously, result...
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Definition
Proxy caching allows a server to act as an intermediary between a user and a provider of web content. When a user accesses a website, proxies interpret and respond to requests on behalf of the original server.
Overview
For much of ...
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Definition
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) is a method of attacking a server or network by sending more data to it than it can respond to. DDoS attacks focus on multiple computers on a single target in order to weaken or remove its ability ...
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Definition
Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) is a standard for accessing web resources on different domains. CORS allows web scripts to interact more openly with content outside of the original domain, leading to better integration between we...
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Definition
Anycast is a routing methodology that sends packets to one node out of a group of potential nodes. It improves connection speed and redundancy by analyzing incoming packets and routing them to the closest available server.
Overview
...
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Definition
HAR stands for HTTP Archive. This is a common format for recording HTTP tracing information. This file contains a variety of information, but for our purposes, it has a record of each object being loaded by a browser. Each of these ob...
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