Performance Analysis for Java? Websites

The team of authors who wrote this book have two things going for them - in-depth knowledge of performance analysis, and, most importantly, the ability to impart that knowledge in a crystal clear manner.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.

This is an excellent book, providing thorough coverage of performance analysis. Although this book is aimed at Java based sites, it would serve as a good primer for anyone learning how to tune a website with dynamic content. The authors assume the reader has only basic familiarity with internet technologies, and explains concepts as needed. After providing a basic theoretical grounding, the authors illustrate the concepts with a case study, going from simple to complex.The book is well-organized and thought out, and presents its information in an understandable, easy to follow fashion. I particularly like the inclusion of the test and capacity planning forms in the appendix. This gives readers the chance to put the information to work, instead of just giving case studies or presenting only theory.A highly recommended and informational book.

A well executed tutorial and reference to all things performance. The books takes you through all of the elements of performance in a J2EE system. Starting with simple things that can get the most bang for the buck, to more complex changes to help you optimize your environment. Several good case studies present the process in a great "show me how" style. Well worth the money for anyone doing development in enterprise Java.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.

What a great, pragmatic, deeply informative book. As a web application developer for 5 years and enterprise application developer for 20, I came to the book with considerable experience, yet I still learned a lot. And as a trainer and writer, I'm always looking for good books to recommend and this is one I do most highly. Important to note is that it's also valuable for those developing ASP, ColdFusion, or PHP web sites, because the performance analysis approaches used by the authors (and tool discussions) are rather generic. You don't really need to understand Java to benefit considerably from their excellent explanations of the fundamentals of web application performance analysis and tuning.That's not to take away from its unique value for Java developers. Clearly there are many specific aspects for them, but other developers will find that 80% of the book is perfectly useful and deeply informative.I rate a book by how many notes I take as tidbits of useful info. And though I've used several load testing tools and even given seminars on the subject, I still learned much in every chapter./charlie