Full Speed Ahead
By Jim Jagielski
In today's world of e-commerce, a Web site doesn't just support your business; chances are, it is your business. Expectations have risen, and with the growing availability of broadband Internet access, a responsive and peppy site is a requirement. If customers, readers, or other site users can't get what they need quickly, they won't return.
At many of the conferences where I speak, one of the most popular subjects is performance tuning, or trying to get the best performance from your system. In some of my presentations, I give helpful hints and advice about what I've learned in the field as an ISP and Web-hosting company founder, and as one of the core developers of Apache. I've always stressed that a fast server starts with a fast foundation. That means the correct hardware and a tuned operating system. Instead of merely tuning Apache or whatever Web server you're running, you'll also need to adjust things to complement and use your server configuration. A few simple changes to a generic computer can result in an exceptional server.
It All Starts with a Fast Chip
Obviously, the faster and more advanced the CPU, the faster the server will be. Because the vast majority of Linux and BSD boxes run on Intel hardware, you can look at the processor's clock speed to compare performance. However, if you move outside of a CPU family, such as comparing a Pentium III chip with a PowerPC G4 chip or a Celeron chip, the CPU speed comparison becomes less relevant. For example, a G4 chip performs faster than a Pentium III at the same clock speed.
