[Zope] Brainstorm: Zope behind proxying cache?

[Jonathan]

Hi,

Been brainstorming a little while about modifying HTTP requests 
combined with a high speed cache in front of a dynamic source of 
data, such as Zope.

Idea: Put a proxying cache with content negotiation, rewriting of 
requests etc. in front of Zope. First time a page is requested 
(client requests it from the proxy which knows where to get it 
because it's configuration files tell it how to handle a request) it 
is cached. The next request is served directly from the cache. As 
soon as a page changes it is fetched from Zope and cached again.

It would also allow you to use any mix of static and dynamic content, 
because pages that stay the same are served directly from the cache 
and Zope is never hit to serve that page. Allows to use Zope as a 
content management tool too.

So what's your view? I know that a request can be modified behind the 
scenes based on the data the client supplies - request, filetype, 
language, browser type, IP address etc. It's also possible to cache 
the files requested, but I am not sure how the cache would 
communicate with Zope and vice versa.

The HTTP protocol offers some hooks to cache a file for a limited 
time only if I am not mistaken, but the ideal solution in my view 
would be a button in Zope called 'Publish' which would send a message 
to the cache resulting in the removal of that particular page...

Just brainstorming here :)  Anyone with suggestions, comments?

Thnx
Jonathan

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