Alan Seiden

Maximize PHP performance with Apache compression

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Does your site run as quickly as it could? It’s worth your time to find out. Faster web sites sell more products, improve user satisfaction, and even rank higher in Google searches.

Note: This tip was written for IBM i but could be adapted for other platforms as well.

Compression adds speed

IBM’s Apache web server provides a way to speed up your pages. You can compress PHP output, javascript, style sheets, and other text-based content. The compressed output will automatically be decompressed and interpreted properly by all modern web browsers. My tests show a speed improvement of 10-50% from this easy technique.

How to enable compression in 3 steps

1. Edit your Apache configuration file, located at /www/myserver/conf/httpd.conf (replace myserver with your instance name. This is a simple text file, so you may choose from several editors: IBM’s HTTP Server Admin GUI at port 2001 (if *ADMIN is started), the WRKLNK/EDTF command, or your favorite text editor.

2. Add the following two directives to the httpd.conf’s main section:

3. Restart Apache via the HTTP Server Admin page or STRTCPSVR SERVER(*HTTP) RESTART(*HTTP) HTTPSVR(MYSERVER)

Measure the improvement

I ran before-and-after tests using a sample script included with Zend Server for IBM i: http://your-server:10088/Samples/SQL_access/DB2_SQL_example.php.

Before compression: 31kb, loaded in 250ms (milliseconds). See the Firebug report below (Firebug is an optional add-on for Firefox and is not required.)

Zend Server output without compression

Without compression, this page was 31kb and loaded in 250ms

After compression: 4.4kb; loaded in 109ms. That’s only 14% of the size and 50% of the time! See the screen shot below.

after compression: only 4.4kb and loaded in 109ms

after compression: only 4.4kb and loaded in 109ms

I highly recommend that you give output compression a try. Your HTTP Server for IBM i pages will fly!

For more information on browser output compression, see: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_deflate.html

Alan Seiden

A simple security measure

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A reader recently asked me this security question:

If a user enters:
http://<my_ip>/<mydirectory>
instead of
http://<my_ip>/<mydirectory>/script.php

They get a listing of all scripts/files in that directory and they can then select and execute/run those scripts.

This is a real concern for us, any suggestions?

The solution is to turn off directory browsing in your Apache configuration. To do this, make sure your Apache configuration file (probably httpd.conf or .htaccess) includes this directive:

Options -Indexes

Note that this directive merely prevents people from discovering the names of your files. Users who already know your file names can still access them. But Options -Indexes provides an important layer of security, preventing mischief from casual users who might otherwise stumble onto your file names by accident or design.

More information: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/core.html#options