Web Performance Tuning

ISBN:059600172X
Pages:480
Date:2002-03
Publisher:O'Reilly
Rating:4.0

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Whether you're administering a Web site, managing an intranet, or just browsing the Web, performance should be a chief concern. In Web Performance Tuning, author Patrick Killelea tackles this challenging topic with a methodical string of problems and possible solutions. This title is most beneficial for those maintaining Web sites but offers several browser-related tips and solid technical background for users of any level. The first part of this book discusses the basic performance challenges for both the browser and server sides of the equation and advises on an overall approach for identifying and attacking performance bottlenecks. The author offers many important questions for you to keep in mind and some useful techniques for measuring Web performance. This section wraps up with a few case studies that exhibit common problems. The meat of the book is an in-depth look at all of the aspects of Web performance. The author begins with the client browser and operating-system software, discusses network hardware and protocols, and finally addresses the complex nature of server configurations. He finishes with a discussion of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and Java scripts and some quick coverage of tuning Web databases. Throughout the book, Killelea addresses popular application software titles, but with an emphasis on Unix servers. While Web Performance Tuning is a helpful tool for tweaking your Web connections, it also serves as an excellent primer on the technical details of the Web. --Stephen Plain/p>
Reviews From AMAZON.COM
A classic reference for every engineers library
Published in 1998, this book is one of the best for web performance testing, covering the technical basics for everything you need to know in order to really understand performance tuning. It includes such required information as definitions of various performance metrics, and what those should be in the real world, and moves along through networks, hardware, and operating systems. It goes to great pains to cover a variety of systems, including Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and a variety of web servers.Michael CzeiszpergerWeb Performance, Inc. Stress Testing Softwarehttp://www.webperformanceinc.com
Classic O'Reilly marred by thin dynamic web coverage
Pragmatic and opinionated in the best of old-time O'Reilly style, this book is a colorful guided tour by an old-hand. The thing is, if you need this book, your website is probably a high-traffic professional/commercial site. And in these days this means (1) dynamic content, (2) database, (3) a content-management/templating system, (4) user identity tracking. Perhaps even interface to legacy client/server systems. Unfortunately, this book goes only as far as CGI, Java, and general DB issues. Messaging middleware is briefly considered. Distributed OO (CORBA, EJB) is discussed and dismissed (a luxury in real world). No coverage of other popular dynamic web technologies (e.g. ASP, ColdFusion) or content-management systems. In particular, a serious discussion of trade-offs between performance and content/workflow manageability would ground the whole discussion in real life.And the architecture chapter, while very insightful, is simply too thin. After all it is much better and easier to plan for performance from the start, then to try tweaking an existing system. The chapter discusses architectures of varying complexity - without including a single diagram! Complete case studies along the line of the mod_perl white paper .... would be invaluable - perhaps broken down by type (e.g. news/portal/B2C) where unique usage patterns will drive unique architecture and optimization.Despite the tilt towards monitoring and diagnosis, this is still a very valuable book in an under-served but important area. Generous references enable the reader to explore individual topics further.