[thelist] Spreading sites between different hosts

Anthony Baratta Anthony at Baratta.com
Fri Aug 25 03:09:55 CDT 2000


Peter Small wrote:
> 
> Resut: links between different parts of the site switch between not only
> pages but also different host servers.
> 
> It's when I try to think about what time penalties or other problems might
> occur that my lack of knowledge is exposed. For example, does the initial
> connection to a site hold that connection open so that all further requests
> to that server are dealt with  faster than the initial connection?

Short answer: No - HTML is stateless, there are no open connections for the next page
request. 
 
> A link from one page on a site to another page on the same site and same
> server can link simply by referencing the file name if the new file (page)
> is in the same directory. Is this faster than if the link referenced the
> full URL?

Short answer: No. The browser has to resolve the URL to a full hostname anyway.

> Similarly. If a link to another page in the same directory of the same
> server is referenced by the full URL, is the link appreciably faster than
> if the link took you to a page on a different server.

Short answer: (See last answer. To save you eyeball time - no. ;-)

> In short, how much of a penalty is there if I spread the pages of a site
> around several different host servers? What is the best way to think about
> this kind of network/logistics problem?

Long answer: Internet bottlenecks, packet storms, local and remote bandwith and
general traffic patterns can vary the performance of serving pages via your different
hosts. Making the 'farther' away server seem faster than a local server.

If you are unconcerned about hosting fees - why not co-lo or lease your own server
and put all your tools there?

-- 
Anthony Baratta
President
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