Then the Web server stores the objects in cache for next time so it doesn’t have to bother the backend again. If not, the caching Web server forwards the request to a backend, retrieves whatever the user needs from that backend, and delivers it. If the cache does, the server delivers those objects directly. Recall for a moment how a caching Web server works: a user hits a page, and the server checks its cache to see if the cache has what the user needs in it. How things will work with our Steam caching server if what we want isn’t in cache.
And that gives us the opportunity to stick our fingers into the process and mess with it. (Chunking like this allows developers to publish updates without having to push a whole new game package-they just invalidate old chunks and upload new ones.) As Valve points out on the SteamPipe developer community page, SteamPipe uses plain ol’ HTTP rather than a proprietary protocol. SteamPipe is used to deliver what the client needs, be it a whole game or just an update, in roughly megabyte-size chunks. This saves ISPs money on transit and peering. Valve has partnered with ISPs across the world so that most folks have SteamPipe content servers near them (“near” in terms of both physical distance and also network hops).
Steam download cache install#
The idea is simple: when your computer’s Steam client needs to install or update an application, it contacts one or more of Valve’s SteamPipe content distribution servers.
Steam download cache Pc#
Steam is fast, Steam is easy, and Steam is ubiquitous-but if you’ve just rebuilt a PC or reinstalled an OS and you need to reinstall your games, Steam will obligingly help you put a giant dent in your cap-very quickly.īut there’s an alternative to having to re-download all your Steam games from the Internet: you can set up a local Steam caching server, so that once you download something, you’ve got it on your LAN instead of having to reach for it across the net and incur usage fees. Most of us-me included-interact with it pretty much daily.īut as game distribution was shifting from physical to digital, ISPs also began implementing data caps-usually under the guise of “network management” (though anyone who thinks caps aren’t a pure revenue play should send me an e-mail, because I’ve got a bridge to sell you, cheap!). Since its troubled launch in 2003, Valve’s publishing platform has gone from a thing we had to grudgingly put up with in order to play Half Life 2 to the most popular digital game distribution tool on the planet. If you play games on PC, where God intended them to be played, chances are you’ve got Steam installed.
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