Analysis of HTTP Performance

We discuss the performance effects of using per-transaction TCP connections for HTTP access, and the proposed optimizations of avoiding per-transaction re-connection and TCP slow-start restart overheads. We analyzed the performance penalties of the interaction of HTTP and TCP. Our observations indicate that the proposed optimizations do not affect Web access for the vast majority of users. Most users see end-to-end latencies of about 100-250 ms and use modem lines, resulting in only 1-2 packets in transit. At these rates, the optimizations reduce the overall transaction time by 13%. Rates over 240 Kbps are required in order to achieve user-noticeable performance enhancement, reducing the time per transaction by half.