Topic: Very slow donwload! help please!!!

[sr_smith]

I just set up Apache 2.2.4 on Windows 2003 Standard with sp2. After doing some download speed tests, it appears that Apache is serving downloads very slowly. I can download to my remote computer (which is connected to internet via cable modem 2000/512 kb.) at about 60KB/s. The Apache box has a T1 connection to the internet.

In addition, sitting right next to the Apache box is a Win2003 Server machine running IIS. Doing the same exact test, I can download at 175KB/s from that machine. So basically, that rules out any WAN related issues. A 12MB file takes 5:13 to download from the Apache box but only 1:19 from the IIS box...quite a difference.

Any ideas why this would be?
I don't find solutions? what can be?

[tdonovan]

With speeds so low, the actual bottleneck is likely a network config problem rather than Apache.

I suggest you try these tests:

1. Run the Apache Bench program (ab.exe) on the Apache server itself to test Apache's speed with no network connection.
If a download file is named test.zip, a typical ab.exe command would be:

Code:

C:\Apache2\bin> ab.exe -n 12 -c 3 -k http://localhost/test.zip

This means perform 12 downloads of test.zip, 3 at a time with keepalive.
Look for the Transfer rate result. Without a network connection this is typically orders of magnitude higher Kbytes/sec than you observe.
If so, Apache itself isn't the problem - it is probably a network problem.

2. Try downloading on the IIS server from the Apache server and vice versa.
This will show the local-area network speed. If this is high, suspect a LAN-to-WAN network connection problem.

3. User Regedit.exe to check that the Windows TCP/IP parameters are not set differently on the IIS machine vs. the Apache machine.
Most TCP/IP settings are under the Windows Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters.

Hope this helps.

-tom-