This chapter describes the results of scalability studies. You can refer to these studies for a sample of how the server performs, and how you might configure your system to best take advantage of Sun Java System Web Server’s strengths.
This chapter includes the following topics:
This study shows how well Sun Java System Web Server 6.1 scales against 1, 2, and 4 CPUs. The goal of the tests in the study was to saturate the server CPU. The tests also help to determine what kind of configuration (CPU and memory) is required for different types of content. The studies were conducted against the following content:
100% static
100% C CGI
100% Perl CGI
100% NSAPI
100% Java servlets
100% PHP/FastCGI
The tuned server performed significantly better than the out-of-the-box server for static loads.
The tuned server performed slightly better than the out-of-the-box server for dynamic loads.
The tuned server showed no significant performance improvement for SSL-encrypted static and dynamic workloads.
Mostly out-of-the box settings
File cache configured via nsfc.conf for cache static tests
Tested with two virtual servers (secure and non-secure) on two listen sockets of the same instance
SSL and non-SSL run without configuring two instances
Java tests run with both the default and /usr/lib/lwp thread libraries
HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1 for static tests
This section lists:
The following table shows the server settings for the non-SSL performance runs. Also note the following:
nsfc.conf in the tuned server was configured to cache all files in the heap.
The size of files in the specweb fileset ranged between 102 bytes to 912 KB.
JVM settings were default.
Setting |
Value |
---|---|
DNS |
Off |
AccessLog |
Off |
StackSize |
262144 |
MaxKeepAliveConnections |
2000 |
ConnQueueSize |
10000 |
ListenQ |
8192 |
SSLCacheEntries |
100000000 |
SSL3SessionTimeout |
86400 |
SSLSessonTimeout |
100 |
CGIStubIdleTimeout |
10000 |
The following table lists the nsfc.conf settings.
Table 7–2 nsfc.conf Settings
Setting |
Out of the Box |
Tuned |
---|---|---|
MaxAge |
30 |
86400 |
MaxFiles |
1024 |
240000 |
SmallFileSizeLimit |
2048 |
1000000 |
SmallFileSpace |
1048576 |
2147483648 |
MediumFileSizeLimit |
537600 |
1000001 |
MediumFileSpace |
10485760 |
1 |
For more information about nsfc.conf, see the Sun Java System Web Server 6.1 SP10 Administrator’s Configuration File Reference.
Server machine: Sun Fire™ V880, 900 Mhz (only 4 CPUs were used for the tests)
RAM: 16384 MB
Network connection: 1 GB/sec private interface
For most cases, scalability plots are shown. Performance is shown as a function of the number of CPUs enabled. The following metrics were used to characterize performance:
Operations per second (ops/sec) = successful transactions per second
Response time for single transaction (round-trip time) in milliseconds
While operations per second (ops/sec) data is shown for most cases, the response time and throughput are shown only where available.
Results are provided for the following tests, which are discussed in the remainder of this chapter:
This test was performed with static download of a randomly selected file from a pool of 400 directories, each containing 100 files ranging in size from 5 KB to 250 KB. Tests were done with the file cache configured to include all files in the directories. The goal of static content tests was to identify the maximum number of conforming connections the server could handle. A conforming connection is one that operates faster than 320 Kbps (kilobits per second).
Simultaneous connections: 1500
CPUs |
Response Time(Out of Box) msec |
Response Time(Tuned) msec |
Op/Sec(Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
Number ofConnections (Out of Box) |
Number ofConnections (Tuned) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
346.69 |
320.5 |
1456.9 |
2169.3 |
510 |
700 |
2 |
337.01 |
305.3 |
2280.1 |
3565.1 |
775 |
1100 |
4 |
307.19 |
299.6 |
3220.8 |
5279.1 |
1000 |
1600 |
This test was conducted using the WASP servlet. It prints out the servlet's initialization arguments, environments, request headers, connection/client info, URL information, and remote user information. The goal was to saturate the CPUs on the server.
Number of clients: 3600
CPUs |
Response Time(Out of Box) msec |
Response Time(Tuned) msec |
Op/Sec(Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
6436.46 |
4159.93 |
414.6 |
571.87 |
2 |
4031.66 |
2052.63 |
518.8 |
870.25 |
4 |
2177.81 |
732.42 |
832.1 |
1280.43 |
This test was performed by accessing a C executable called printenv.This executable outputs approximately 0.5 KB of data per request. The goal was to saturate the CPUs on the server.
Number of clients: 2400
CPUs |
Response Time(Out of Box) msec |
Response Time(Tuned) msec |
Op/Sec(Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
7350.41 |
6819.63 |
244.8 |
265.17 |
2 |
2801.64 |
2391.25 |
436.8 |
473.46 |
4 |
1127.31 |
719.36 |
750.59 |
873.6 |
This test ran against a Perl script called printenv.pl that prints the CGI environment. This script outputs approximately 0.5 KB of data per request. The goal was to saturate the CPUs on the server.
Number of clients: 450
CPUs |
Response Time(Out of Box) msec |
Response Time(Tuned) msec |
Op/Sec(Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
5484.17 |
4777.72 |
57.6 |
62.05 |
2 |
2111.22 |
1704.28 |
107.8 |
119.32 |
4 |
363.81 |
132.85 |
189.6 |
209.76 |
The NSAPI module used in this test was printenv2.so. It prints the NSAPI environment variables along with some text to make the entire response 2 KB. The goal was to saturate the CPUs on the server.
Number of clients: 6300
CPUs |
Response Time(Out of Box) msec |
Response Time(Tuned) msec |
Op/Sec(Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
2208.06 |
1259.16 |
758.9 |
1212.07 |
2 |
1123.85 |
931.13 |
1636.3 |
1965.68 |
4 |
952.67 |
177.9 |
2106.1 |
2804.05 |
A 1 KB static SSL file was used for this test. The goal was to saturate the CPUs on the server.
Simultaneous connections: 550
CPUs |
Response Time(Out of Box) msec |
Response Time(Tuned) msec |
Op/Sec(Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
1259.11 |
1357.81 |
392.5 |
404.7 |
2 |
650.61 |
697.31 |
764.3 |
784.3 |
4 |
351.31 |
368.01 |
1422.6 |
1484.5 |
This test was performed by accessing the printenv C executable in SSL mode. The goal was to saturate the CPUs on the server. The test was performed in SSL mode with the SSL session cache both enabled and disabled.
# of CPUs |
Op/Sec (Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|
1 |
41.9 |
42.19 |
2 |
81.0 |
81.86 |
4 |
145.1 |
146.05 |
Table 7–10 SSL/Perl CGI: 100% Session Cache Reuse
# of CPUs |
Op/Sec (Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|
1 |
55.29 |
55.42 |
2 |
105.01 |
107.05 |
4 |
194.35 |
197.91 |
Table 7–11 SSL/Perl CGI: Session Cache Comparison
# of CPUs |
No Session Cache(Tuned) |
100% Session Cache(Tuned) |
---|---|---|
1 |
42.19 |
55.42 |
2 |
81.86 |
107.05 |
4 |
146.05 |
197.91 |
This test was performed by accessing the printenv C executable in SSL mode. The goal was to saturate the CPUs on the server. The test was performed in SSL mode with the SSL session cache both enabled and disabled.
CPUs |
Op/Sec (Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|
1 |
84.8 |
82.73 |
2 |
165.0 |
164.38 |
4 |
290.6 |
291.63 |
Table 7–13 SSL/C CGI: 100% Session Cache Reuse
CPUs |
Op/Sec (Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|
1 |
160.65 |
165.69 |
2 |
308.11 |
310.51 |
4 |
538.54 |
550.19 |
Table 7–14 SSL/C CGI: Session Cache Comparison
CPUs |
No Session Cache(Tuned) |
100% Session Cache(Tuned) |
---|---|---|
1 |
82.73 |
160.65 |
2 |
164.38 |
308.11 |
4 |
291.63 |
538.54 |
This test was performed by accessing the printenv C executable in SSL mode. The goal was to saturate the CPUs on the server. The test was performed in SSL mode with the SSL session cache both enabled and disabled.
CPUs |
Op/Sec (Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|
1 |
114.08 |
114.44 |
2 |
223.58 |
225.04 |
4 |
380.88 |
382.78 |
Table 7–16 SSL/NSAPI: 100% Session Cache Reuse
CPUs |
Op/Sec (Out of Box) |
Op/Sec (Tuned) |
---|---|---|
1 |
321.24 |
333.21 |
2 |
554.87 |
551.45 |
4 |
762.04 |
791.62 |
Table 7–17 SSL/NSAPI: Session Cache Comparison
CPUs |
No Session Cache(Tuned) |
100% Session Cache(Tuned) |
---|---|---|
1 |
114.44 |
333.21 |
2 |
225.04 |
551.45 |
4 |
382.78 |
791.62 |
This test tested the scalability and performance of the JDBC connection pooling module. In this test a simple servlet requests a row from a large database and prints its content. An Oracle database and the Oracle OCI driver were used for the test. JDBC connection pool resource configuration is shown below (server.xml).
<RESOURCES> <JDBCRESOURCE jndiname="jdbc/tpcwDB" poolname="TpcwPool" enabled="true"> <JDBCCONNECTIONPOOL name="TpcwPool" datasourceclassname="oracle.jdbc.pool.OracleDataSource" steadypoolsize="1000" maxpoolsize="1000" poolresizequantity="2" idletimeout="0" maxwaittime="0" connectionvalidationrequired="false" connectionvalidationmethod="auto-commit" validationtablename="string" failallconnections="false" > <PROPERTY name="URL" value="jdbc:oracle:oci8:@(description=(address=(host=mach-3) (protocol=tcp)(port=1521))(connect_data=(sid=10K)))"> <PROPERTY name="user" value="tpcw"> <PROPERTY name="password" value="tpcw"> </JDBCCONNECTIONPOOL> </RESOURCES>
Number of clients: 3600
CPUs |
Response Time (msec) |
Op/Sec |
---|---|---|
1 |
4223.66 |
529.14 |
2 |
1508.53 |
966.74 |
4 |
153.19 |
1634.94 |
PHP is a widely used scripting language uniquely suited to creating dynamic Web based content. It is the most rapidly expanding scripting language in use on the Internet due to its simplicity, accessibility, wide number of available modules, and large number of easily available applications.
The scalability of Sun Java System Web Server combined with the versatility of the PHP engine provides a highly performant and versatile web deployment platform for dynamic content.
The PHP (version 4.3.2) tests were performed in two modes:
Out-of-process "fastcgi-php" application invoked using the FastCGI plugin available for Sun Java System Web Server 6.1 (the download will be available from http://www.sun.com/download/index.jsp?tab=1).
In-process PHP NSAPI plugin (available with PHP).
The test executes the phpinfo() query. Mostly out-of-the-box settings were used, plus PHP-related settings in the obj.conf and magnus.conf files, as shown after the test graphs and data.
CPUs |
Op/Sec |
Latency (msec) |
---|---|---|
1 |
54 |
214 |
2 |
105 |
225 |
4 |
199 |
230 |
CPUs |
Op/Sec |
Latency |
---|---|---|
1 |
63 |
190 |
2 |
125 |
193 |
4 |
251 |
190 |
Init fn="load-modules" shlib="/export0/ES61/install/bin/https/lib/libphp4.so"\ funcs="php4_init,php4_close,php4_execute,php4_auth_trans" Init fn="php4_init"/ errorString="PHP Totally Blowed Up!" Init fn="load-modules" shlib="/export0/ES61/install/bin/https/lib/libnsapi_fcgi. so" funcs="FCGIRequestHandler,FCGIInit" shlib_flags="(global|now)" Init fn="FCGIInit" errorString "Unable to start the FCGI NSAPI module"
NameTrans fn="pfx2dir" from="/php-nsapi"dir="/export0/ES61/install/docs/php-nsapi" name="php-nsapi" NameTrans fn="pfx2dir" from="/php-fcgi"dir="/export0/ES61/install/docs/php-fcgi" name="fastcgi" Service type="magnus-internal/fastcgi-php" fn="FCGIRequestHandler" BindPath="localhost:8082" AppPath="/export0/php-fastcgi/bin/php" StartServers="5" PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN="10" PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUEST="2000" <Object name="fastcgi"> ObjectType fn="force-type" type="magnus-internal/fastcgi-php" Service type="magnus-internal/fastcgi-php" fn=FCGIRequestHandler BindPath="localhost:8082" AppPath="/export0/php-fastcgi/bin/php" StartServers="5" PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN="10" PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUEST="2000" </Object> <Object name="php-nsapi"> # Set the MIME type ObjectType fn="force-type" type="magnus-internal/x-httpd-php" # Run the function Service fn=php4_execute </Object>