Performance Analysis for Java Websites [Paperback]

The key business logic may be written in java and running on the application servers. There are tons of books on java. But how to test and optimise the entire system? Do you have to hire expensive consultants? Maybe not. Try first looking at this book. Written in fact by 3 IBM consultants.

You might be thinking, "Is this some going to be some smarmy sales pitch?" Where the take home message is buy only IBM and you will achieve nirvana?

The book does not unfold that way. The authors describe the various problems at a vendor neutral level. The examples (and screen captures) are drawn from several vendors. The writing is clear and rises above being buried in the minutae of specific code. The book is for both the programmer and the systems administrator. This is not really a programming book per se. Rather, it deals with test and design strategies for optimising those abovementioned metrics. Emphasis is placed on quantifying results and on incremental ramp up, where you install hardware and software in stages, measuring at each stage so that you isolate the effect of just that stage. Key issues like network bandwidth, network traffic analysis and vertical and horizontal scaling are the purview of sysadmins. If you are a sysadmin who knows some java, but that's not really your cup of tea, and are confronted with these issues, try this book.

IBM, through its alphaworks division and Websphere, has one of the largest development efforts in java. (Comparable to Sun's, in fact.) This book is good evidence of that.

The authors are evidently experienced and write in a nice confident, but not overly technical, manner. They don't make any assumptions about the readers skill level in Java or web servers. Each step is explained well from the reasoning for the change to the finished product. They do an especially good job of helping you identify improvements to your site.

Highly recommended.

I like the way this book starts out, showing the contrast between a bricks & mortar store and its online equivalent. This introduces the basics - throughput, transaction, page and user rates, response times and states. More than an easy to follow introduction, it contains all of the key elements of performance analysis, doled out in easy to understand chunks, and sets the stage for the rest of the book.

Every facet of a typical environment is covered, including Java server performance factors, external and internal factors related to networking, load balancers, protocol behavior, and Java internals. The chapter on performance profiles of common web sites is especially useful. Different site types are characterized in a set format that shows caching potential (of the site type), any special considerations, and specific performance testing considerations. This allows you to go directly to the type of site you are going to test, get the relevant information, then proceed to conduct the testing, which is covered in subsequent chapters.

The chapters on testing begin by showing how to develop the test plan, associated test scripts, and select the right tools to support the testing. The areas covered in these chapters are comprehensive. Actual test execution and results analysis are covered in equal detail, using examples and scenarios. One especially useful chapter is 13, Common Bottleneck Symptoms, which is useful to track the cause of observed results that do not match expected ones during testing.

This book goes beyond testing, though - it also covers capacity and performance planning, which is normally a discipline onto itself. Again, excellent advice and coverage of key points. The appendices are an invaluable collection of templates, worksheets and checklists.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It exemplifies top notch writing, is well illustrated, and is technically accurate, and based on proven approaches.