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    "title" : "Properly configure the server |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Properly configure the server",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/guides/mobile-principles/configuration/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Properly configure the server","summary" : "Week seven of our series covers configuring servers to optimize response time.","date" : "2019-02-12T12:30:00-05:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","primary_image" : { "uid" : "guide-mobile-principles", "alt" :
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      "filename" :"principles-configuration.md",
      
      "filepath" :"guides/mobile-principles/principles-configuration.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/guides/mobile-principles/principles-configuration.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/guides/mobile-principles/principles-configuration.md","slug" : "configuration","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/guides/mobile-principles/configuration/","aliases" : {"0" : "/resources/mobile/principles/configuration"},"content" :"\u003cp\u003eWelcome to Principle 7!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike any piece of technology, a web server needs to be tuned for peak performance. While mobile devices continue to improve generation after generation, if the server at the heart of your site is not optimally configured, it may deliver a suboptimal experience to your users. Such poor performance may negatively impact the usability of your site and can be detected using Google’s \u003ca href=\"https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly\"\u003eMobile Friendly Test\u003c/a\u003e tool, \u003ca href=\"https://www.digitaldashboard.gov/\"\u003eDigitalDashboard.gov\u003c/a\u003e, or the \u003ca href=\"https://itif.org/publications/2017/03/08/benchmarking-us-government-websites\"\u003eInformation Technology \u0026amp; Innovation Foundation (ITIF) Benchmarking Report\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"improve-server-response-time\"\u003eImprove Server Response Time\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"ideally-server-response-time-should-be-less-than-200-ms-milliseconds\"\u003eIdeally, server response time should be less than 200 ms (milliseconds)\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eServer response time is the average amount of time it takes for a server to respond to a browser request. It is a measure of how long it takes to load the necessary HTML to begin rendering the page, which reduces the network latency between Your browser and your server.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"suggestions-for-tuning-your-server\"\u003eSuggestions for “tuning” your server\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are many things that may slow down your server’s response. Optimization of \u003ca href=\"https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2017/09/optimizing-web-servers-for-high-throughput-and-low-latency/\"\u003ehardware and drivers, OS and its TCP/IP stack, and library and application-level tuning\u003c/a\u003e should be considered to improve your server\u0026rsquo;s response time. The first step is to \u003ca href=\"https://www.monitis.com/blog/essential-server-performance-metrics-you-should-know-but-were-reluctant-to-ask/\"\u003emeasure server performance metrics\u003c/a\u003e. Then, consult your network and server administrators for their thought for how to address the challenge, and finally, continue to monitor the system.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe following are some (not all; there are \u003cem\u003emany\u003c/em\u003e more) key impacts to server performance to consider assessing:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWebsite Resource Usage\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cbr /\u003eMore efficient webpages use fewer resources allowing the web page to be served up quicker.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReduce Server Trips\u003c/strong\u003e - Each thing a page has to do in order for it to render adds overhead. The average page likely loads several stylesheets, scripts, and other resources (like images) from your own server. Each trip between the site and the server takes time, and there may be ways to reduce the number of trips. To find out how many requests your webpage is making, you can use the \u003ca href=\"https://varvy.com/tools/requests/\"\u003eVarvy Page Request Tool\u003c/a\u003e which will tell you how many resources it is using for each page load.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReduce the Page Weight\u003c/strong\u003e – Fewer resources required to render a page means a faster rendering of that page. Reduce the size and amount of resources required by combining and minifying where possible, and optimizing CSS and JavaScript code by embedding it and running it inline. See \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/resources/mobile/principles/cache/\"\u003ePrinciple 5 - Conserve Resources, Recycle When Possible\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/resources/mobile/principles/optimize-minify-compression/\"\u003ePrinciple 6 - The Smaller the Better, When It Comes to Page Resources!\u003c/a\u003e to go deeper in to making your site perform better.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeb Server Software\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cbr /\u003eChanging your web server software or configuration may improve server response time (again, consult your network and server administrators). There are many types of web server software, including: Apache, Nginx, and Litespeed. No matter what web server software you are using, it should be optimized for your own needs. However, server optimization and tuning can be a challenge— in \u003ca href=\"https://bobcares.com/blog/how-to-increase-your-server-speed/\"\u003eHow to Optimize and Speed Up Your Server by More Than 20%\u003c/a\u003e, Hamish Oscar Lawrence recommends that one starts by tuning the following nine areas:  \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e - Enable caching \u003cbr /\u003e - Setup a fast reverse proxy \u003cbr /\u003e - Choose the right application server \u003cbr /\u003e - Fine tune your web server once a month \u003cbr /\u003e - Turn on HTTP/2 \u003cbr /\u003e - Defragment your database tables \u0026amp; optimize server settings \u003cbr /\u003e - Fix your DNS query speed \u003cbr /\u003e - Trim down your site’s critical rendering path \u003cbr /\u003e - Disable resource intensive services \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAlso, if you are using a \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_delivery_network\"\u003eContent Delivery Network\u003c/a\u003e (CDN), check to make sure it is configured properly. If it is configured to store your files in different locations around the world, a CDN will allow users all over the world to see your pages faster because they are receiving files closer to their physical location.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWebsite Traffic\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cbr /\u003eThe more traffic a website gets, the more server resources are required. A website that is quick on initial deployment may become slow over time as traffic increases. This is why continuing monitoring is required. \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEach situation and configuration is unique, so you may need to bring your network people in to help.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"references\"\u003eReferences\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEssential Server Performance Metrics you should know, but were reluctant to ask | \u003ca href=\"http://www.monitis.com/blog/essential-server-performance-metrics-you-should-know-but-were-reluctant-to-ask/\"\u003ehttp://www.monitis.com/blog/essential-server-performance-metrics-you-should-know-but-were-reluctant-to-ask/\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHow to Optimize and Speed Up Your Server by More Than 20 Percent | \u003ca href=\"https://bobcares.com/blog/how-to-increase-your-server-speed/\"\u003ehttps://bobcares.com/blog/how-to-increase-your-server-speed/\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eImprove Server Response Time | \u003ca href=\"https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/Server\"\u003ehttps://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/Server\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOptimizing web servers for high throughput and low latency | \u003ca href=\"https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2017/09/optimizing-web-servers-for-high-throughput-and-low-latency/\"\u003ehttps://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2017/09/optimizing-web-servers-for-high-throughput-and-low-latency/\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eServer Response Time | \u003ca href=\"https://varvy.com/pagespeed/improve-server-response.html\"\u003ehttps://varvy.com/pagespeed/improve-server-response.html\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePage Speed: Improve Server Response Time | \u003ca href=\"https://gtmetrix.com/improve-server-response-time.html\"\u003ehttps://gtmetrix.com/improve-server-response-time.html\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n"}
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