CentOS - Aug 2010 - tools one could to use to troubleshoot for Apache

Have a question , Suppose i had a client tell me that  he can access the web
page but it takes long time to view  the pages   the website is a static
website ( suppose this website does not server dynamic data  or does not
connect to a database )... what would one check other than :

the server load  ( cat /proc/loadaverage )  ,

 the Apache logs  ,

 the number of client connection ( netstat -tupln |grep :80 |wc -l )

--

how would i know if it a client side  issue or a server side issue ........

-- 
Regards
Agnello D'souza
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On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 2:16 PM, Agnello George
<agnello.dsouza at gmail.com> wrote:
> Have a question , Suppose i had a client tell me that? he can access the
web
> page but it takes long time to view? the pages
Ooh, a hypothetical client, who hypothetically is paying you to test
hypotheticals?

? the website is a static
> website ( suppose this website does not server dynamic data? or does not
> connect to a database )... what would one check other than :
> the server load? ( cat /proc/loadaverage )? ,
> ?the Apache logs? ,
> ?the number of client connection ( netstat -tupln |grep :80 |wc -l )
You're not looking at a problem, as the page is being served up. It's
just being served up slow. Stop thinking problem (unless the logs are
showing you one) and start looking at tuning.
Have you done any sort of performance tuning at all? I might
hypothetically consider googling for performance tuning guides for
httpd.

> how would i know if it a client side? issue or a server side issue ........
Benchmark it on the server, on a box on the same local network, then
on a remote box on a distant network.


-- 
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
George Orwell

On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 11:46:19PM +0530, Agnello George
wrote:
>    Have a question , Suppose i had a client tell me that  he can access the
>    web page but it takes long time to view  the pages   the website is a
>    static website ( suppose this website does not server dynamic data  or
>    does not connect to a database )... what would one check other than :
Even a static site could contain complex pages, in terms of what it takes
the browser to render them. If the pages are complex in terms of css or
JavaScript content, or even nested tables, you might see a difference
running different browsers. Rendering speed varies widely between them.

If it's not rendering, is it slow to everywhere, or just slow to your
client's system. What's their bandwidth? Are they behind a proxy? If you
and
your client, on different connections, view the page at the same time with
the same browser, is it as slow for both of you?

If the question is how fast the pages are being served, you could run tests
remotely with wget. It has all sorts of timing thresholds (check the man
page) which you could reduce until it starts failing. That could quantify
the speed of the server's response to your remote position on the network.
Or you could build a little script that writes a timestamp, runs wget with
its defaults, writes another timestamp, erases the local files wget just
pulled in, and repeats. Then the difference between starting and finishing
timestamps will show you how fast the page comes in, and whether the speed
is consistent over time. A bottleneck could be elsewhere than the server.
But if you ran this at multiple remote locations you could triangulate.

Whit

On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 2:16 PM, Agnello George
<agnello.dsouza at gmail.com> wrote:
> Have a question , Suppose i had a client tell me that? he can access the
web
> page but it takes long time to view? the pages?? the website is a static
> website ( suppose this website does not server dynamic data? or does not
> connect to a database )... what would one check other than :
>
> the server load? ( cat /proc/loadaverage )? ,
>
> ?the Apache logs? ,
>
> ?the number of client connection ( netstat -tupln |grep :80 |wc -l )
>
I'll second Google/Yahoo tools..

Also check your resolvers (DNS timing out on nameserver, etc..). This
can affect not only the initial connection but other elements on the
page that get loaded from elsewhere.

On 08/20/2010 11:16 AM, Agnello George wrote:
> Have a question , Suppose i had a client tell me that  he can access 
> the web page but it takes long time to view  the pages   the website 
> is a static website ( suppose this website does not server dynamic 
> data  or does not connect to a database )... what would one check 
> other than :
>
> the server load  ( cat /proc/loadaverage )  ,
>
>  the Apache logs  ,
>
>  the number of client connection ( netstat -tupln |grep :80 |wc -l )
>
> --
>
> how would i know if it a client side  issue or a server side issue 
> ........
Start by running 'ab' against your server. The 'ab' (Apache
Bench) tool
allows you to find out just how fast or slow your server really is. 
Second, make sure you **do not** have 'HostnameLookups On' in your 
configuration. Turning on hostname lookups is the surest way to make 
your server slow because it does a reverse DNS lookup for each access 
(which can take several seconds depending on where the surfer is coming 
from).

Third, quit putting yahoo groups in the Cc line of your emails. Anyone 
not subscribed to them gets a bounce when they reply to you.

-- 
Benjamin Franz

On Friday, August 20, 2010, Agnello George <agnello.dsouza at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Have a question , Suppose i had a client tell me that  he can access the
> web page but it takes long time to view  the pages   the website is a
> static website ( suppose this website does not server dynamic data  or
> does not connect to a database )... what would one check other than :
> 
> the server load  ( cat /proc/loadaverage )  ,
> 
>  the Apache logs  ,
> 
>  the number of client connection ( netstat -tupln |grep :80 |wc -l )
> 
> --
> 
> how would i know if it a client side  issue or a server side issue
> ........
Enable the Apache server-status module and look at it. On an all-static 
site, unless you have a really big pipe or a really slow server, you have 
one of two problems; 

1) All your Apache processes are busy talking to people 

or 2) Your outbound bandwidth is full (which apache can't tell you but if 
it's not #1 it's probably #2).

Please note the easiest fix for #1 is to increase the number of Apache 
processes or switch to the threaded MPM. The best fix is to not use Apache 
for static content. Lighttpd is much better.

-- 
"No animals were harmed in the recording of this episode. We tried but that
damn monkey was just too fast."