Tips on how to measure performance

[Mikael]

Hi!

I am currently working on improving performance on my RadControl-based web-app. I would like to get some advice on how to measure performance, in order to get an understanding on what effect my changes as I optimize my code.

Some specific areas where I would need info:
1. Since I am using Ajax extensively, it is not possible (right?) to use traditional tools to measure the time it takes to update a page after user interaction (tools like wcat from Microsoft).
2. It is very important for me to know how much time is spent on server-side, and how much time is spent client-side.
3. It would also be interesting to know which parts of the client-side code that takes up most time. This could give me a hint on what client-side features I should try to avoid, to improve performance.

I think information on how tools and techniques on how to get this information would be very valuable for many developers. Perhaps a whitepaper or something would be reasonable? Or some piece of information on how your developers at Telerik measure performance.

Thanks!
/Fredrik

[Paul]

Hello Fredrik,

We have a lot of optimization techniques for RadControls and I am sure some of them will be of great help for your project.

Optimization Tips series in the blogs:
Optimization Tips:The Rad Managers for ASP.NET AJAX
Optimization Tips: Testing Page Performance
Optimization Tips: Using RadAjaxManagerProxy Controls
Optimization Tips: Using HTTP Compression
Optimization Tips: Optimizing Custom Skins


Kind regards,
Paul
the Telerik team

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[Mikael]

Thanks, Paul!

I am aware of those great tips, and I will use them and other techniques to improve performance.

However, my question was not regarding how to improve performance, but how to analyze/measure performance, to find bottlenecks and see how performance is effected by changes I make.

So, please read my original post again :-)

/Fredrik

[Paul]

Hi Fredrik,

Sorry for the misunderstanding. We can suggest Microsoft Application Center Test 1.0, Visual Studio .NET Edition as a starting point.

Application Center Test (ACT) stress tests Web servers and analyze performance and scalability problems of Web applications.

ACT simulates a large group of users by opening multiple connections to the server and rapidly sending HTTP requests. It also supports several other authentication schemes and the SSL protocol, making it ideal for testing personalized and secure sites.

Application Center Test is compatible with all Web servers and Web applications that adhere to the HTTP protocol. ACT 's uses VBScript or Java Script macro recording feature and built-in graphing capability to record the tests and provide more clarity to the tester about the performance of the web site.

Sincerely yours,
Paul
the Telerik team

Check out Telerik Trainer, the state of the art learning tool for Telerik products.

[Mikael]

Thanks again, Paul!

I am aware of those tools. However, those tools are, as far as I know, more targeted for traditional non-Ajax "full-post" pages.

I was hoping that you could give some advice on how to drill down on the time it takes to serve an Ajax callback, see how much time is spent on client-side vs. server-side, etc. I guess your developers have some technique in order to do this, no?

/F

[Paul]

Hello Fredrik,

Generally, FireBug can be used for client-side profiling and lots of other stuff - measuring the total html output, time for response etc.
Server side performance can be measured with ASP.NET tracing. Using a commercial profiler such as dotTrace is also an option.

All the best,
Paul
the Telerik team

Check out Telerik Trainer, the state of the art learning tool for Telerik products.