This entry on MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) is a good piece on the basics of web performance engineering. While reviewing the steps covered in the article I discovered that one of my Apache servers had KeepAlives disabled, it appears that the default value for this has changed from ‘On’ to ‘Off’. The performance improvement was immediate and obvious.
It discusses several basic concepts including TCP settings, web server options and to a lesser degree client side methods for improving web page load times. It also explains the use of a free tool available from Microsoft (imagine that – something free from Microsoft!); Visual Round Trip Analyzer. I am downloading it as I type this.
It’s amazing how quickly time passes when you take a few business trips and hunker down to churn out a few software releases. I pulled my nose off the grindstone the other day to discover that someone had replaced my lawn with about a foot of oak leaves – not cool!
I managed to upload a few new photo sets to Flickr. Seattle’s famous Public Market (where they throw the fish around); La Jolla, CA and a visit to the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, MA. The picture you see to the left is from that set. I have a thing for big cats. 😉
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