NOTE: This trick is unsupported, but currently working fine on our online demo.

NOTE: Only use this trick when you cannot use the HTTP Compression feature supported by IIS 6 & 7.

IIS 6 HTTP Compression | IIS 7 HTTP Compression

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If your host does not allow HTTP Compression supported on IIS 6 / 7 (can greatly save you bandwidth), you can enable HTTP Compression for the forum software to save bandwidth by following the steps below:

Instruction to enable HTTP Compression for your forum

First, download the attached file below, unzip, and upload the content onto your forum's ~/bin folder.
This dll set is modified by me to suit our software (faster and more efficient). The original compression dll can be found here (not compatible with the software though).

Second, open the web.config file under your forum root, and make the following changes:

1. If you are using IIS 6 or IIS7 Classic Mode:
   
   under system.web > httpModules, add
   
   

   <add name="HttpCompressModule" type="DC.Web.HttpCompress.HttpModule,DC.Web.HttpCompress" />

   
   
   under system.web > httpHandlers, add
   
   

    
        <add verb="*" path="css.axd" type="DC.Web.HttpCompress.CompressionHandler,DC.Web.HttpCompress" />        
        <add verb="*" path="js.axd" type="DC.Web.HttpCompress.CompressionHandler,DC.Web.HttpCompress" />  
        

2. If you are using the IIS 7 Integrated Mode:
   
   under system.webServer > modules, add
   
   

   <add name="HttpCompressModule" preCondition="integratedMode" type="DC.Web.HttpCompress.HttpModule,DC.Web.HttpCompress" />

   
   
   under system.webServer > handlers, add
   
   

    
        <add name="HttpCompressionCss" preCondition="integratedMode" verb="*" path="*css.axd" type="DC.Web.HttpCompress.CompressionHandler,DC.Web.HttpCompress" />        
        <add name="HttpCompressionJs" preCondition="integratedMode" verb="*" path="*js.axd" type="DC.Web.HttpCompress.CompressionHandler,DC.Web.HttpCompress" />  
        

3. under configSections (near the top of the web.config file), add
   
   

            
                <sectionGroup name="DCWeb"> 
                    <section name="HttpCompress" type="DC.Web.HttpCompress.Configuration, DC.Web.HttpCompress" requirePermission="false" /> 
                </sectionGroup> 
        

   
   
   
4. Right below configSections, add:
   
   

    
            <DCWeb> 
                <HttpCompress compressionType="GZip"> 
                    <IncludedMimeTypes> 
                        <add mime="text/html" /> 
                    </IncludedMimeTypes> 
                    <!--<ExcludedMimeTypes> 
                        <add mime="text/html" /> 
                      </ExcludedMimeTypes>--> 
                    <ExcludedPaths> 
                        <add path="~/RadControls/Editor/Localization.aspx" /> 
                    </ExcludedPaths> 
                </HttpCompress> 
            </DCWeb> 
        

5. Save web.config to your server.

How does the above technique enhance the performance of the forum?

The above instruction accomplishes 2 things:

1. Gzip compress aspx pages
2. Gzip compress, Minify, and combine application JS files and Theme CSS files to save HTTP round trips

Both of the above will greatly save your bandwidth usage and lower network latency, which translates into better performance in most cases.

However, do note that the CPU usage will increase slightly because of the additional file processing this technique requires. So, if you have enough processing power (this is generally the case) but don't have much bandwidth to spare, this is a good trade off to gain noticeable performance.

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Attachment(s)

DCCompress.zip (26.69 KB) - downloaded 1634 times

If you downloaded this software before Jan 15, 2008, please download again and replace the files with the new ones in the zip.

I modified the source to support the Medium Trust environment (most hosting solution), as well as fixing an issue in the original dll.

This dll is update again today (Jan, 20, 2009) to fix some caching issue. Please download it again and use the files here to replace the ones on your server.