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raymor · 12-14-2011, 08:20 PM

ab (ApacheBench) is the standard tool.
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/programs/ab.html

In practical terms, the CPU and RAM are about a thousand times as fast as the drives, so one a web server the capability of the machine is limited by the drives. Therefore, drive specs tell 90% of the story. That and check whether the machine is using the "noatime" setting. Noatime will increase performance by 15%-50%.

That's the capability of the machine. What about software? Well, the server software pretty much just sends a message to the OS asking it to read a file from the drive and send it to the network card. Assuming a gigabit network card, the drive is again the slow part. The web server software really doesn't make much difference as long as it's not doing something extremely dumb. The main thing it can do or not do is force noatime despite the setting. lighttpd, for example, accidentally forces noatime even if the server admin has said not to use that setting.

So anyway, for most sites, check the drive and RAID controller specs. That's basically your capacity right there.

12-14-2011, 08:20 PM
raymor Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,745	ab (ApacheBench) is the standard tool. http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/programs/ab.html In practical terms, the CPU and RAM are about a thousand times as fast as the drives, so one a web server the capability of the machine is limited by the drives. Therefore, drive specs tell 90% of the story. That and check whether the machine is using the "noatime" setting. Noatime will increase performance by 15%-50%. That's the capability of the machine. What about software? Well, the server software pretty much just sends a message to the OS asking it to read a file from the drive and send it to the network card. Assuming a gigabit network card, the drive is again the slow part. The web server software really doesn't make much difference as long as it's not doing something extremely dumb. The main thing it can do or not do is force noatime despite the setting. lighttpd, for example, accidentally forces noatime even if the server admin has said not to use that setting. So anyway, for most sites, check the drive and RAID controller specs. That's basically your capacity right there. __________________ For historical display only. This information is not current: support@bettercgi.com ICQ 7208627 Strongbox - The next generation in site security Throttlebox - The next generation in bandwidth control Clonebox - Backup and disaster recovery on steroids