Hi all,

I'm a newbie here so first of all hello to everyone.

My site (http://www.globalpatrol.net) has been hosted with Site5 for the past 12 months. I have had no issues or complaints, they have been nothing short of excellent overall, BUT the only concern I have is regarding server speed.

Currently the site consists of plain HTML files, and a typical page is 40 KB including images. I would like to add a PHP/MySQL database backend but I'm worried this will degrade performance even more.

I am on the Helicon server which is an Athlon XP 1600. Sometimes I notice that when refreshing the page a few images get stuck for a while and take unusally longer to load, maybe 5 seconds more than usual. It's as if the server is heavily loaded and completing other requests first, but looking at the server load shows: 0.01 0.08 0.10. The server load is constantly around 0.1 - 0.4, which is very low and can't be the problem.

So I'm not sure where the delay is. I should mention that I'm from Sydney, Australia and my ping time to the server is roughly 260ms (typical). Other sites in the USA (eg, Google, Microsoft, etc) don't seem slow at all.

I notice that KeepAlive is set to OFF, so that after the web browser requests an image, it needs to restablish a new connection for each subsequent image. Wouldn't it be better to have KeepAlive on to save unnecessary SYN/FYN packets? Each connection probably takes a second to recreate.

My site allows users to download software however I can only get 30-40 KB/s to Sydney. Is this unusally slow? I can get roughly 300 KB/s from a Tucows mirror in the USA, so I believe that the server has a bottleneck.

Latencies are fairly low (260ms). Server load is low (0.1 - 0.4 usually). However I notice a sluggish behaviour of the website.

At the very least could people located within the USA please test the speeds on the site for me? Try to download the file from the GlobalPatrol server and let me know if it seems quick or slow for you. It might just be because I'm located internationally, and there is nothing that Site5 or I can do about that. :)

Thumbs up to Site5 still. :D

Ok, I'm not in the USA (I am on BigPond dialup in melbourne, australia) but your site seems fast.

Ask them to install mod_gzip which makes web pages faster
<edit>heres ping:Microsoft(R) Windows 98
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1998.

C:\WINDOWS\Desktop>ping www.globalpatrol.net

Pinging www.globalpatrol.net [216.118.80.91] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=430ms TTL=236
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=428ms TTL=236
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=422ms TTL=236
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=429ms TTL=236

Ping statistics for 216.118.80.91:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 422ms, Maximum = 430ms, Average = 427ms

C:\WINDOWS\Desktop></edit>
<edit2>download speeds started at 5kb but went down to about 2.59kb (bigpond internet always has sloww downloads)</edit2>

Well your'e in Melbooooorne on 56k dialup so that doesn't really help. What I need is people on cable in the USA testing the speed. Make sure to do a Ctrl-F5 to refresh all the images (and bypass any caches).

From Toronto, Ontario (well Hamilton, but well, basically Toronto):

Pinging globalpatrol.net [216.118.80.91] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=245
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=245
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=33ms TTL=245
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=33ms TTL=245

Ping statistics for 216.118.80.91:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 32ms, Maximum = 33ms, Average = 32ms

Looks good to me. Also cable modem.

HTH,
TrishM

Besides ping tests, could you please try loading the page and downloading the file (or part of it) and report back the avg speed. As I said I get fairly sluggish refresh times and downloads max out at about 30-40 KB/s...

The page loaded very fast. I got 90-120kbytes downloading

Ah, I did download and started at 115 and went to 160. Not the best download times for me, but very nice.

The page loads very fast and refreshes the same.

Trish

Thanks for the comments.

Has anyone here hosted their site with Site5? How do you find the speeds? I am interested to know why I find the speeds slow, whilst everyone else seems to think they are quite snappy. :confused: Maybe I have too high expectations.

From the UK:

Pinging globalpatrol.net [216.118.80.91] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=245
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=245
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=245
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=245

Ping statistics for 216.118.80.91:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 93ms, Maximum = 93ms, Average = 93ms

Hmm I found my download speeds excellent , well over 600K

Rochen, how quick did the page load for you? Try to do a Ctrl-F5 refresh to reload the entire page. Does it feel slow navigating through?

Also does KeepAlive help produce a significant increase in speed? Because Site5 seems to have it disabled on all their Apache servers.

The only thing that I thought took a while was downloading the program. It's usually faster when I download other things the size of your program. Other than that, the website loaded ok, and the download speed wasn't to bad. :)

45KB/s Download of file.

Ping Results:

C:\>ping www.globalpatrol.net

Pinging www.globalpatrol.net [216.118.80.91] with 32 bytes o

Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=110ms TTL=241
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=241
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=241
Reply from 216.118.80.91: bytes=32 time=111ms TTL=241

Ping statistics for 216.118.80.91:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 100ms, Maximum = 111ms, Average = 105ms

As far as the loading of the website content, its pretty fast. I am in California

Seems slow from Texas, US.

Here are the download speeds from your server, and then from the tucows mirror. You can see how much faster the mirror is (sometimes doubling the speed from your server).

globalpatrol.net

[root@server1 root]# wget http://www.globalpatrol.net/download/globalpatrol200.exe
--12:28:32-- http://www.globalpatrol.net/download/globalpatrol200.exe
=> `globalpatrol200.exe'
Connecting to www.globalpatrol.net:80... connected!
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1,197,554 [application/octet-stream]

0K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 4% @ 43.74 KB/s
50K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 8% @ 77.28 KB/s
100K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 12% @ 82.10 KB/s
150K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 17% @ 45.00 KB/s
200K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 21% @ 35.34 KB/s
250K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 25% @ 40.68 KB/s
300K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 29% @ 47.48 KB/s
350K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 34% @ 46.25 KB/s
400K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 38% @ 48.45 KB/s
450K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 42% @ 97.47 KB/s
500K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 47% @ 121.07 KB/s
550K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 51% @ 146.20 KB/s
600K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 55% @ 136.99 KB/s
650K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 59% @ 115.21 KB/s
700K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 64% @ 133.69 KB/s
750K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 68% @ 148.37 KB/s
800K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 72% @ 137.74 KB/s
850K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 76% @ 111.61 KB/s
900K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 81% @ 65.45 KB/s
950K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 85% @ 61.58 KB/s
1000K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 89% @ 29.64 KB/s
1050K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 94% @ 49.21 KB/s
1100K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 98% @ 96.90 KB/s
1150K .......... ......... 100% @ 95.52 KB/s

12:28:50 (65.31 KB/s) - `globalpatrol200.exe' saved [1197554/1197554]



megamirror.tucows.net

[root@server1 root]# wget http://megamirror.tucows.com/files/globalpatrol200.exe
--12:28:58-- http://megamirror.tucows.com/files/globalpatrol200.exe
=> `globalpatrol200.exe'
Connecting to megamirror.tucows.com:80... connected!
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1,197,554 [application/octet-stream]

0K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 4% @ 52.74 KB/s
50K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 8% @ 172.41 KB/s
100K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 12% @ 181.16 KB/s
150K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 17% @ 303.03 KB/s
200K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 21% @ 328.95 KB/s
250K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 25% @ 195.31 KB/s
300K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 29% @ 194.55 KB/s
350K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 34% @ 303.03 KB/s
400K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 38% @ 287.36 KB/s
450K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 42% @ 204.92 KB/s
500K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 47% @ 186.57 KB/s
550K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 51% @ 276.24 KB/s
600K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 55% @ 273.22 KB/s
650K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 59% @ 212.77 KB/s
700K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 64% @ 176.06 KB/s
750K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 68% @ 177.30 KB/s
800K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 72% @ 467.29 KB/s
850K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 76% @ 231.48 KB/s
900K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 81% @ 184.50 KB/s
950K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 85% @ 161.29 KB/s
1000K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 89% @ 171.23 KB/s
1050K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 94% @ 1.06 MB/s
1100K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 98% @ 186.57 KB/s
1150K .......... ......... 100% @ 229.25 KB/s

12:29:10 (196.39 KB/s) - `globalpatrol200.exe' saved [1197554/1197554]

ping Looks good:

PING globalpatrol.com (63.89.93.239) from me : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 63.89.93.239: icmp_seq=0 ttl=51 time=8.509 msec
64 bytes from 63.89.93.239: icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=9.968 msec
64 bytes from 63.89.93.239: icmp_seq=2 ttl=51 time=9.974 msec
64 bytes from 63.89.93.239: icmp_seq=3 ttl=51 time=9.974 msec
64 bytes from 63.89.93.239: icmp_seq=4 ttl=51 time=9.971 msec
64 bytes from 63.89.93.239: icmp_seq=5 ttl=51 time=9.972 msec
64 bytes from 63.89.93.239: icmp_seq=6 ttl=51 time=9.972 msec
64 bytes from 63.89.93.239: icmp_seq=7 ttl=51 time=9.974 msec

--- globalpatrol.com ping statistics ---
8 packets transmitted, 8 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/mdev = 8.509/9.789/9.974/0.488 ms

Download looks good:

13:34:23 (571.04 KB/s) - `globalpatrol200.exe' saved [1197554/1197554]


Traceroute

traceroute to globalpatrol.com (63.89.93.239), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 66.54.168.1 (66.54.168.1) 1.207 ms 0.354 ms 0.297 ms
2 66.7.139.81 (66.7.139.81) 0.788 ms 0.741 ms 0.627 ms
3 66.54.175.25 (66.54.175.25) 1.486 ms 1.217 ms 1.123 ms
4 66.54.144.45 (66.54.144.45) 2.219 ms 1.871 ms 1.778 ms
5 66.54.175.193 (66.54.175.193) 1.623 ms 1.533 ms 1.623 ms
6 gige5-0-165.hsipaccess1.Philadelphia1.Level3.net (63.209.178.161) 2.081 ms 1.593 ms 1.776 ms
7 ge-6-0-0.mp2.Philadelphia1.Level3.net (64.159.0.153) 2.105 ms 2.198 ms 1.992 ms
8 so-0-0-0.mp1.NewYork1.level3.net (64.159.1.65) 4.381 ms 4.520 ms 4.499 ms
9 gigabitethernet2-0.core2.NewYork1.Level3.net (64.159.17.6) 4.745 ms 4.817 ms 5.049 ms
10 100.ATM5-0.BR3.NYC8.ALTER.NET (204.255.169.125) 5.871 ms 6.080 ms 6.017 ms
11 0.so-2-1-0.XL2.NYC8.ALTER.NET (152.63.21.58) 5.867 ms 5.801 ms 5.752 ms
12 0.so-1-0-0.TL2.NYC8.ALTER.NET (152.63.0.169) 5.702 ms 5.947 ms 6.194 ms
13 0.so-1-2-0.TL2.DCA6.ALTER.NET (152.63.3.194) 11.148 ms 11.249 ms 10.915 ms
14 0.so-6-0-0.XL2.DCA6.ALTER.NET (152.63.38.74) 10.780 ms 10.740 ms 11.098 ms
15 POS7-0.GW1.DCA6.ALTER.NET (152.63.32.225) 10.624 ms 10.689 ms 10.951 ms
16 routerdog-gw.customer.ALTER.NET (157.130.32.6) 16.885 ms 17.056 ms 17.536 ms
17 63.89.93.239 (63.89.93.239) 16.801 ms 16.966 ms 17.009 ms

Well buggered if I can explain why it feels so slow from Sydney. It's pretty clear that the speeds in the USA are quick, so kudo's to Site5. My feeling is that KeepAlive = Off is causing the problem, because from Sydney a connection has to be established for each request and this takes time because of the 250ms latency.

See my post. I checked it from several locations, and the speed was nothing to brag about.