Battle of the Stacks - All Things Open Edition

When you first start as a developer all you care about is the code. As you progress and become more concerned with performance you begin to realize that there’s a whole world of possibilities and no clear indication of what works best.

In this presentation we’ll look at different combinations of web server technologies including Apache, NGINX, HHVM, PHP-FPM, and more, then we'll run load tests on each one of them in a head to head competition to find out which one is the Last Stack Standing.

This is the updated version of the BoS presentation. Same format as before, but updated to include more technologies and better tests.

Transcript

1. Battle of the Stacks by Nic Rosental! @nicdev Image by Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecosmopolitan/
2. ! ! ! noun noun: stack; plural noun: stacks 1. a pile of objects, typically one that is neatly arranged. "a stack of boxes" synonyms: heap, pile, mound, mountain, pyramid, tower "a stack of boxes" informal a large quantity of something. "there's stacks of work for me now" a rectangular or cylindrical pile of hay or straw or of grain in sheaf. synonyms: haystack, rick, hayrick, mow, shock, haycock; datedcock "a stack of hay" a vertical arrangement of stereo or guitar amplification equipment. a number of aircraft flying in circles at different altitudes around the same point while waiting for permission to land at an airport. a pyramidal group of rifles. units of shelving in part of a library, used to store books compactly. plural noun: the stacks COMPUTING a set of storage locations that store data in such a way that the most recently stored item is the first to be retrieved. 2. a chimney, especially one on a factory, or a vertical exhaust pipe on a vehicle. synonyms: chimney, smokestack, funnel, exhaust pipe a column of rock standing in the sea, remaining after erosion of cliffs. noun: sea stack; plural noun: sea stacks Stacks Image by K.G.23 https://www.flickr.com/photos/kg-23/12846731134
3. The components that make up your application. From the web server software all the way to the code. Image by Juhan Sonin https://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/
4. Performance means speed and reliability Image by cle0patra https://www.flickr.com/photos/cle0patra/
5. More hardware Image by S Jones https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixeljones/
6. The Setup Image by afromusing https://www.flickr.com/photos/afropicmusing/
7. LAMP Stack Image by Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas https://www.flickr.com/photos/thecosmopolitan/
10. Prefork! vs! Worker! vs! Event Image by Allen McGregor https://www.flickr.com/photos/allenmcgregor/
11. LAMP Stack! Apache 2.4 Prefork Image by Peter Miller https://www.flickr.com/photos/pmillera4/
13. MaxRequestWorkers = 512MB / 22.5MB! ~23 MaxRequestWorkers
15. LAMP Stack! Apache 2.2 Prefork Image by Nerissa Villas https://www.flickr.com/photos/envypictures/
17. MaxClients = 512MB / 13MB! ! ~28 MaxClients
19. LAMP Stack! Apache 2.4 Worker +! PHP-FPM Image by Image by Peter Miller https://www.flickr.com/photos/sumaryanto-bronto/
21. MaxRequestWorkers = 512MB / 8MB! ~64 MaxRequestWorkers
23. LAMP Stack! Apache 2.4 Event +! PHP-FPM Image by Arne Halvorsen https://www.flickr.com/photos/arne-halvorsen/
25. MaxRequestWorkers = 512MB / 4MB! ! ~128 MaxRequestWorkers
27. LEMP Stack Image by Christa Lohman https://www.flickr.com/photos/chloeloe/
29. HHVM Image by Andrew Siguenza https://www.flickr.com/photos/photo-knight/
30. HHVM + Apache 2.4! HHVM + NGINX Image by Michael Coté https://www.flickr.com/photos/cote/
33. Lighttpd! AKA Lighty Image by JayRaz https://www.flickr.com/photos/shnakepup/
34. Let the battle begin! Image by Paul Kitchener https://www.flickr.com/photos/pmillera4/
35. Each stack gets paired against another stack randomly in a playoff format.! ! Each stack gets a vanilla installation of WordPress to be used as target.! ! Each stack is tested using Loader.io.! ! The stack with better response time moves on to the next round.! ! Each rounds’ test is progressively harder than the last.! ! The winner of the third round will be crowned Last Stack Standing
39. Apache 2.2 Prefork Apache 2.4 Worker + FPM HHVM + NGINX LAMP Apache 2.4 Event + FPM Lighty + FPM LEMP LAMP Apache 2.4 Prefork HHVM + Apache 2.4 60 clients/60 seconds
40. LAMP Apache 2.2 Prefork! ! Vs.! ! LAMP Apache 2.4 Worker + FPM http://ldr.io/1ogrzVi http://ldr.io/ZI8Sya
41. LAMP Apache 2.4 Worker + FPM LAMP Apache 2.2 Prefork Response time: 163ms Response time: 60ms
42. HHVM + NGINX! ! vs! ! LAMP Apache 2.4 Event + FPM http://ldr.io/ZzETbj http://ldr.io/1nu476f
43. Response time: 32ms Response time: 65ms HHVM + NGINX LAMP Apache 2.4 Event + FPM
44. Lighty + FPM! ! vs! ! LEMP (NGINX + FPM)! http://ldr.io/1ogzbau http://ldr.io/1y3bjqM
45. Response time: 50ms Response time: 44ms Lighty + FPM LEMP (NGINX + FPM)
46. LAMP Apache 2.4 Prefork! ! vs! ! HHVM + Apache 2.4! ! http://ldr.io/1DjdQAj http://ldr.io/ZzKpKX
47. Response time: 82ms Response time: 30ms LAMP Apache 2.4 Prefork HHVM + Apache 2.4
48. LAMP Apache 2.4 Worker + FPM HHVM + NGINX HHVM + Apache 2.4 LEMP 120 clients/60 seconds
49. LAMP Apache 2.4 Worker + FPM! ! vs! ! HHVM + NGINX! ! http://ldr.io/1sRdwW8 http://ldr.io/1nuaKpk
50. Response time: 85ms Response time: 31ms LAMP Apache 2.4 Worker + FPM HHVM + NGINX
51. LEMP! ! vs! ! HHVM + Apache 2.4! ! http://ldr.io/ZzGVbp http://ldr.io/1nuhTWE
52. Response time: 60ms Response time: 29ms LEMP HHVM + Apache 2.4
53. HHVM + NGINX HHVM + APACHE 2.4 480 clients/60 seconds
54. HHVM + NGINX! ! vs! ! HHVM + Apache 2.4! ! http://ldr.io/1ogvD7X http://ldr.io/1ogD7b3
55. Response time: 76ms Response time: 60ms HHVM + NGINX HHVM + Apache 2.4
56. Image by Articularnos.com https://www.flickr.com/photos/articularnos/ Champion of the ! Battle Of The Stacks ATO Edition HHVM + Apache 2.4
57. Image by yamchildht tps://www.flickr.com/photos/yamchild/ Test the limits
58. ! HHVM + Apache 2.4! ! http://ldr.io/1w6dtrZ
59. Response time: 6210ms HHVM + Apache 2.4 Successful responses: 2148 Errors: 8 (0.4%)
60. Key Takeaways Image by János Csongor Kerekes https://www.flickr.com/photos/kjcs/
61. Thanks, Chris Fidao! @fideloper
62. Thanks y’all Image by Trey Ratcliff https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/
63. Get in touch! nic@epiclabs.com! @nicdev! ! Get the slides! https://speakerdeck.com/nicdev