Php text editor

Zend Accelerates Performance

For any PHP-based Web site running Linux or Unix, Zend Accelerator 2.0 is plug-and-play software that can significantly improve the performance of that site. Backed up with a handy administration module, the useful package deserves a look from those who want to squeeze more performance out of their PHP scripts.

Installing Accelerator proved to be simple enough. The product comes with a text-based GUI program. Though the installation utility had trouble parsing a few lines in our PHP configuration file, we overcame this problem in a few minutes using a text editor. Most Webmasters will find that installing Accelerator is a veritable snap compared with the usual difficulties they face when trying to get PHP and MySQL running. The current product, however, runs only on Linux and Unix; support for Windows is planned for a future release.

The online PDF manual was quite sparse and did not mention the URL that is used for administration. We tested Accelerator with a working content management Web site powered by Linux, MySQL, and PHP 4.0.6 for our database. Once we were up and running, we simulated Web users for several script-intensive PHP tasks using a Web testing suite, Empirix's TEST, Version 5.12.

Under the hood, Accelerator compiles PHP scripts ahead of time, so they run faster with fewer resources. In our testing, the product proved to be a sturdy performer. When we simulated the task of logging on users, Accelerator allowed us to run 89 virtual users (instead of 46 users without Accelerator) before our site slowed unacceptably. On a test of browsing dynamically generated content links, we ran 116 users with Accelerator, compared with 80 without it.

A browser-based module lets administrators control settings, such as viewing performance stats and determining how much memory is used to accelerate scripts. The module is up to the task of giving Webmasters good control of their accelerated PHP scripts and generating basic reports that show performance increases.

Any site powered by a Linux- or Unix-based PHP will benefit noticeably from Zend's powerful and unobtrusive acceleration solution. Accelerator is a solid bit of technology created from recognized authorities in the world of PHP. Best of all, it works with a minimum of fuss for busy administrators.