Faster Page Loads - Which Contrib theres quite a few !!!!

[Guest]

Hi all, which contrib does everyone use for optismisation and cache etc, there seems to be quite a few.

 

Cache

 

Faster Page Loads, Less DB queries - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,1862

Page Cache v1.0 - MS2 - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,2561

osC Advanced Cache Class - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,2873

 

Optimization

 

Database Optimizer - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,2093

Optimize tep_get_tax_rate() method - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,2417

tep_get_category_tree optimization - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,4083

tep_show_category optimization - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,4075

tep_get_path optimization - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,4052

Optimize also_purchased_products module - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,2798

Dramatically Improve Search Speed - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,3466

Automatic Database Optimization - http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,3075

 

Appreciate your comments.

[Jack_mcs]

The change that usually makes more difference than all of the others is the Auto Thumbnailer, which you don't have listed. As for those you list, they probably all make a difference. However, I wouldn't install them unless you think you need them since too many contributions can cause difficulty in installing the ones you really need. All of the ones listed under Optimization will probably not make much of a difference other than the database optimizer.

 

Jack

[boxtel]

The change that usually makes more difference than all of the others is the Auto Thumbnailer, which you don't have listed. As for those you list, they probably all make a difference. However, I wouldn't install them unless you think you need them since too many contributions can cause difficulty in installing the ones you really need. All of the ones listed under Optimization will probably not make much of a difference other than the database optimizer.

 

Jack

 

I agree that an auto thumbnailer is 1 of the main speed optimizers as most other deal with the generation of the html but then still all images have to be transmitted and rendered.

 

I do believe that page caching is beneficial but it also has drawbacks ofcourse.

 

Most other contribtions deal with reducing the functionality which holds with the dogma that if you want to improve speed, you should do less and send less, apart from infrastructure ofcourse.

 

database optimization is a system maintenance activity in my view so you should have that standard in your arsenal.

 

Apart from that it comes down to what you can affort to let go in order to speed up.

[Guest]

Jack and Amanda, thank you very much for your input here. You two are one of the most experienced OSC users around and your opinions are very much appreciated.

 

I have Autothumbnailler istalled already, just try to finish the site off, so adding things like SSL, SEO tweaks and thought at the sametime will try and do some optimising - improve speed.

 

Thanx again for your input both.

[Guest]

I have most of those running on my most recent osCommerce install, and the thing goes pretty fast for having around 100,000 products. Of course, I don't have a lot of extras that I need. My site is mostly concerned with search engine optimization, so I have the Ultimate SEO URLs and Header Tags Controller running.

 

Page cache should be installed last in my opinion, so you have your site as optimized as possible before adding that final piece that will make the speed of your site rock.

 

I would add that if you're using Easy Populate, look at the index code provided in one of the downloads on the contribution page. It says something like HUGE SPEED BOOST. It's amazing. I process 25000 products on one tab-delimited file in a couple of minutes.

[ComicWisdom]

Thank you folks.

 

This is the kind of information I've been looking for. I've been reading through the large speed thread that's on here, but this more concise I think is exactly what I was looking for.

[boxtel]

Thank you folks.

 

This is the kind of information I've been looking for. I've been reading through the large speed thread that's on here, but this more concise I think is exactly what I was looking for.

 

well, it is not rocket science ofcourse.

 

if you have a large amount of concurrent users (50-100) then your main concern is php execution and ofcourse site infrastructure. Then you start looking at loops and specific indexes and god knows what.

 

But if you have about 2 to 5 customers at a time, page generation is an issue but generally it comes down more to getting the html, js and image data to the client as fast as you can. In other words, the pages are created faster than you can deliver them.

 

Sometimes I am amazed at how fast php actually creates these html pages and dissapointed at how little difference it makes when I remove a query or a little loop here an there.

 

ofcourse, when I use page cache, I often see the response times go down dramatically but not consistently which indicates that certain queries or processes or both take up more time than others. It also indicates that all delays are not mysql bourne.

 

So analysing what REALLY makes a difference in your sites performance is not as straightforward as you might like it to be.

 

So in retrospect I always follow the rule which works ALL the time: "Do less and send less".

That one works regardless of infrastructure, loops, queries and all other magical suggestions out there, it's plain physics.