I don't see changes right away on real web server

B

Big Daddy

I live in Africa and am doing a website for a small organization
here. Our web server is in North America. When I change a static
file (e.g. html, css, jpg) on the web server and then go to look at
the page using my web browser, it usually takes a couple days for me
to see the change. Until then, I just see the old content. It's very
annoying because I want to see the changes and make sure they are
correct from the real web server, not just on my box. So it's getting
cached somewhere, probably one of these places:

The web server is still serving the old content
There is a server somewhere in between the web server and our LAN that
is caching the content
The proxy server in our LAN is caching the content
My computer is caching the content

The content that is or is not cached can be different depending
whether I look at the page in IE or Firefox. It can also be different
depending on whether I access it by http://domain.com or http://www.domain.com
(i.e. adding the www in the URL can change it). The content of our
non-static pages (i.e. PHP) don't seem to be cached and experience the
same delay.

So my questions are:

- What is the most likely cause of my problem?
- Is there any way for me to fix the problem so I see the updates
immediately?

thanks
John
 
E

Els

Big said:
I live in Africa and am doing a website for a small organization
here. Our web server is in North America. When I change a static
file (e.g. html, css, jpg) on the web server and then go to look at
the page using my web browser, it usually takes a couple days for me
to see the change. Until then, I just see the old content. It's very
annoying because I want to see the changes and make sure they are
correct from the real web server, not just on my box. So it's getting
cached somewhere, probably one of these places:

The web server is still serving the old content
There is a server somewhere in between the web server and our LAN that
is caching the content
The proxy server in our LAN is caching the content
My computer is caching the content

The content that is or is not cached can be different depending
whether I look at the page in IE or Firefox. It can also be different
depending on whether I access it by http://domain.com or http://www.domain.com
(i.e. adding the www in the URL can change it). The content of our
non-static pages (i.e. PHP) don't seem to be cached and experience the
same delay.

So my questions are:

- What is the most likely cause of my problem?
- Is there any way for me to fix the problem so I see the updates
immediately?

I'd first determine which of the above possibilities it is.

Your computer: empty your cache.

To see if it's the webserver, let someone on a different continent
look at a certain page, then upload a changed version, and let that
someone check if changes are applied. If yes, then you can eliminate
the webserver.

For the proxy in your LAN: can't you bypass it to check?
 
C

Chaddy2222

I'd first determine which of the above possibilities it is.

Your computer: empty your cache.

To see if it's the webserver, let someone on a different continent
look at a certain page, then upload a changed version, and let that
someone check if changes are applied. If yes, then you can eliminate
the webserver.

For the proxy in your LAN: can't you bypass it to check?
What I notice with my University proxxy when I use it is that, I need
to refresh the web browser whenever I make a change.
 
K

kimballgilmer

I'd first determine which of the above possibilities it is.

Your computer: empty your cache.

To see if it's the webserver, let someone on a different continent
look at a certain page, then upload a changed version, and let that
someone check if changes are applied. If yes, then you can eliminate
the webserver.

For the proxy in your LAN: can't you bypass it to check?

I think the problem is some sort of server somewhere in between the
hosting web server and us. I did an experiment when I wasn't seeing
the change right away. Emptying my cache didn't help, and another
person who lives in the same city as me coudn't see the changes
either. But someone back in America could see the changes
immediately. So who could be caching it, and is there any way to stop
this?

thanks
John
 

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