Boards.ie ain't using gzip!

dahamsta

I was wondering why vBulletin on Boards.ie was so slow compared to other vBulletin installations. You ain't running gzip boys!

http://leknor.com/code/gziped.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.boards.ie%2Fvbulletin%2Findex.php

Enabling gzip will compress the hell out of delivered pages - 100k down to 20k minimum.

adam

regi

Thanks Adam,

I'll look into this. Hopefully it'll work on Win32!

Enygma

There are a few issues with this, just to warn you. Firstly it requires that people have decompression built into their browsers. It can mess with tables on some version of IE. It also takes a fair whack of CPU time to do the compression but an 82% compression rate isn't bad, probably worth it. Give it a shot for a few days anyway, see what people think.

regi

Hmm... all the gzip filters for NT are jolly expensive - does anyone know of a free one?

dahamsta

Enygma: You're right, there are issues. Decompression isn't very serious though, because most modern HTTP 1.1 browsers have it built in by default. Exceptions would be rare, and as far as I'm aware the server will switch automatically if a gzip-encoded connection can't be opened (I wouldn't swear to this). It does load up the CPU though, so this is something the sysadmin would want to keep an eye on. That said, even with base level compression, the gains are enormous.

Regi: I don't know how IIS works, but you should still be able to do it with the PHP zlib module. I've seen compiled versions around, so I'll have a poke around for you this evening.

adam

dahamsta

Regi, the extensions are all bundled with the zipped Windows package (not the installer):

http://www.php.net/do_download.php?download_file=php-4.0.6-Win32.zip&source_site=php.mirrors.esat.net

To enable it, just make sure that extension_dir is set correctly in the php.ini file, and add:

extension=php_zlib.dll

Now make sure that "GZIP Output" is set to "Yes" in the "HTTP Headers and output" section of the options, and set your compression level to "1" for testing. You can play with this over time to weigh up gains Vs CPU overhead.

That should do it.

adam

dahamsta

On a related note, are you guys running the Zend Optimizer? If you ain't, you should. 'Nother major performance gain, and this time at less expense to the CPU (and the pocket, since it's free).

http://www.zend.com/store/products/zend-optimizer.php

adam

(Heh, I just noticed I'm a moderator. Cool. )

regi

Adam, thanks a million.
gzip should be up and running now - I had no idea it could also be implemented as part of PHP. It should help make the vbulletin part of boards faster for the users.

dahamsta

No bother Regi, glad to be of help.

adam