How does it work?
How does
it work? If you think about it the .htm, .asp, etc. files being served by
IIS are not very efficient...they are basically bulky text files. If you
could compress them before sending them out, your download times would be
greatly shortened.
I didn't know
this before, but the HTTP 1.1 standard actually already includes support for
this sort of compression. This standard is supported in 95% of
browsers...IE4.0+, Netscape 4.0+ and Opera 4.0+). However, you do need the right
software on your internet server to recognize the browser and serve it out
compressed content...and most servers don't have this.
Microsoft
included such a feature in IIS...but if you've used it, you know that it's a
little buggy and it only works on static HTM pages...not your dynamic ASP pages.
That's
where PipeBoost comes into play. It can compress content on the fly and
serve it to the browser, which un-compresses it and displays it. It is so
simple to implement...you just run a short 3 minute install program and its
ready to go...no configuration required on either the server or the browser (of
course if you want to get fancy you can tweak the server GUI for hours...but for
most installations the default install will be more than adequate).
Test Results
Before rolling out PipeBoost, I tested it in the lab. I
downloaded the trial version and installed it on a server here in Tampa,
Florida. Then I put a test 9.12 Mb Excel Spreadsheet in a test directory
and downloaded it from a browser located in Boston, Mass. (this was done
via terminal server) and measured the results.
The
improvement was eye-popping.
| |
|
Time to
download |
| No
compression |
|
1 minute 2
seconds |
| PipeBoost
compression |
|
23 seconds |
| |
|
|
| Difference: |
|
3.7 x speed increase |
After rolling it into
production, I immediately saw a 27% decrease in bandwidth usage...or about an
entire T1 worth of data. Planet Source Code actually has alot more
compressed .zip files than most sites do (which of course can't be further
compressed by PipeBoost), so most sites should see an even larger decrease in
bandwidth.
Trying it on your own
PipeBoost has a great tool
on their web site that lets you test their product on your own web site, without
having to install it...to get an idea of how much it can compress your content
and save you. Just go to PipeBoost and click on "Request Report" and then
type in your URL. The Planet Source Code home page showed that it could be
compressed 73%!
My Conclusion
This is one of the few 'must
have' products for IIS. I your website does anything more than trivial
traffic, you should seriously
consider this program. To download this program , go to
PipeBoost and click on
'Downloads'.
Third Party Product Review:
