In my presentations and consultations on Web performance, I emphasize the importance of a correctly configured DNS system with the phrase: “If people can’t resolve your hostname, your site is dead in the water”.

Yesterday, it appears that the large anti-virus and security firm Sophos discovered this lesson the hard way.

Of course hindsight is perfect, so I won’t dwell for too long on this single incident. The lesson to be learned here is that DNS is complex and critical, yet is sometimes overlooked when considered the core issues of Web performance and end-user experience.

This complexity means that if an organization is not comfortable managing their own DNS, or want to broaden and deepen their DNS infrastructure, there are a large number of firms who will assist with this process. These firms whose entire business is based on managing large-scale DNS implementations for organizations.

DNS is critical. Never take it for granted.

Tags: critical, DNS system, DNS, end-user experience, outage, Sophos, Web Performance

Port80 Software is reporting that in their survey of Fortune 1000 Web sites, IIS 6.0 has overtaken Apache as the Web server platform of choice. [here]

My two-cents: I respect the Port80 Software team greatly and love their maniacal devotion to ensuring that IIS users actually make use of the HTTP compression and caching that can so greatly improve Web performance.

That said, they are tied to Microsoft and the IIS platform. I would be curious to see if, scratching below the surface, they were able to determine what the application platform these companies built their mission critical Web applications on. I am open-minded and willing to hear that IIS is winning in that area as well. In my mind, it’s about Web performance tuning, not what you use to get that performance.

That said, I think a critical Web application survey of these same firms would find that many of these companies rely on JSP servers to run their core business processes.

As well, it would be interesting to se, by Fortune 1000 ranking, what the companies are using what server platform.

And…people still use Netscape Enterprise, SunOne, and Domino as production Web servers? YIKES!

Tags: apache, app, application, business, business process, caching, compress, compression, critical, cro, HTTP, IE, IM, it, js, LAN, Microsoft, Om, One, performance, pr, run, server, users, web, web app, web application, web applications, Web Performance, Web server, Web servers

Bob Wyman of PubSub has a great post on the value of online consistency to companies and services. [here]

This is a critical component that is too often overlooked. The need for speed is an addictive goal. But as I have said before, fast is not enough.

Go, Bob, Go!

Tags: Consistency, critical, GrabPERF, HTML, HTTP, IE, it, Om, One, online

Well, it was bound to happen. Someone from a PR Agency asked if I was willing to go on the record today to discuss the GrabPERF results for the site they represent.

This exposes the critical weakness in my plan for world domination. I am, effectively, providing a low-octane sub-set of the information that my employer currently provides. I am using GrabPERF as a learning resource for myself, as well as for gathering some useful data that I know people are interested in.

I cannot comment on the data beyond the realm of my blog without overstepping the limited leeway allowed me by my employer. I am more than willing to provide documentation on the methodology, and provide raw data for publication purposes. But my position puts me in a very awkward position, and I refuse to find the edge of that cliff.

The people who use GrabPERF the most may or may not have the resources to purchase a commercial Web Performance Measurement service; that is not my call to make. If they do, I am completely comfortable analyzing the data and commenting on it as a representative of my employer.

And thanks for using GrabPERF!

Technorati: GrabPERF, Web Performance, Web Performance Measurement, Web Performance Monitoring, public relations, PR, msm, media relations

IceRocket: GrabPERF, Web Performance, Web Performance Measurement, Web Performance Monitoring, public relations, PR, msm, media relations

Tags: app, blog, critical, current, data, GrabPERF, HTTP, IE, IM, information, it, LAN, measurement, media, Om, One, performance, performance measurement, pr, Technorati, web, Web Performance, Web performance measurement, Web+performance

If you thought this was bad, SAP strives to exceed its previous level of obsfucation.

Nicholas Carr quotes from the transcripts at the Boston SAP Sapphire conference.

Let’s look through this thing. Remember we had the fridge. We decided to retire the fridge. We’re going to talk about a new metaphor from now on. What is NetWeaver and how does the whole thing come together? We talk about what we call the body of information. If you think about how the body of information is constructed, there are multiple pieces in there. It’s the mirror, if you want, of what we had with the fridge. The only difference from the fridge is that all the pieces have to work together. The face is the portal. If you think about the brain behind the face, there are two halves. The analytics, the structured side; knowledge management, the unstructured side. The brain is critical not only for storing information but for processing. Anything that comes through the brain gets context. Through this brain, and what’s supporting it, is probably the backbone of your body of information: master data management. If you don’t have master data management, your body may be there, but it may not be able to move. And that’s very critical to understand. Every information that goes through, every transaction that goes through, at some point in time touches master data, and if you don’t have a coherent master data strategy and a coherent master data management server, you will not get an agile body. MDM is one of the biggest things that is happening right now in NetWeaver. Through the backbone, you get a lot of events. The events contextualize themselves through master data into the brain and then get back and thrown into the rest of your body. That network is like your nerve system.

Brain. Melting. I. Must. Follow. Blindly.

Via Chris Selland

Tags: analytics, app, backbone, Boston, critical, data, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, information, IP, it, LAN, Om, One, PHP, pr, server, strategy, tn

Some software called “Netscape” has a critical flaw. Never heard of it…

Tags: critical, HTML, HTTP, it, Om

Why, oh why, does Windows suck?

I wish I knew…

Off to install my 87 new critical security patches…still haven’t gotten an offer from anyone to ship me a WiFi enabled Linux Laptop, or a PowerBook for testing and “paid” blogging purposes…

Tags: blog, Blogging, book, critical, HTML, HTTP, IM, IP, it, Linux, Om, One, testing, window, Windows

eBay woke up. What a concept! A real person answering your e-mails. Now, of course, the downside of this is that the e-mails will be answered in Bangalore and Mumbai, and will still be from controlled response scripts.

But still, it’s somewhat of a concession from eBay that they stumbled a bit…and that the response to the latest earning results may force them to re-think their end-to-end response.

Oh, and in case eBay missed it, the “Lincoln Fries” were auctioned at Yahoo! Auctions…And JupiterMedia is talking about alternatives to eBay. [here]

Re-invention is a wonderful thing. And the response from the community is likely to be…when will eBay begin encouraging its leaders and evangelists to take to the Blogosphere?

A Message from Bill Cobb

Since becoming the President of eBay North America in December, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to you, our Community. There’s a lot on your minds right now. I’ve been taking it all in and thinking hard about how we can make sure eBay remains a fun, safe place to trade, and a prosperous home for our many dedicated sellers.

One of the issues I’ve heard a lot about is our recent fee increases, particularly the increase in Store Inventory Format final value fees. I’ve also heard concerns about customer support, the amount of change we make to the site on a regular basis, and trust and safety. We’re listening to everything you have to say.

eBay has become a hugely successful marketplace as a result of the innovation, enthusiasm and hard work of our Community. The site has also become more complex as it has grown to meet many of your needs. So our challenge is to keep pace with the Community’s changing requirements, while preserving the things that make eBay so special. With that in mind, I’d like to give you a preview of some upcoming changes for the United States and Canada.

eBay has a fantastic Customer Support team, but Meg and I agree we haven’t invested enough in giving our CS reps the flexibility and tools they need to really take care of you. So, to start, within the next 90 days, we’ll shut down most of our automated email responses. Our users will get a “real” e-mail response to their questions - you’ll hear from a human being who will try to help you with your problem or question right off the bat. We will only use auto responses to acknowledge receipt of spam or policy violation reports.

We also think the time has come to expand phone support. Currently phone support is available only to Silver, Gold, Platinum and Titanium PowerSellers. Starting April 1, all eBay Stores owners also will have access to phone support. We’ll provide details on the benefits of phone support to Stores owners soon.

We know pricing is a critical issue for our sellers. While we stand behind our decision to increase final value fees on Store Inventory Format listings - because they make sense for items that list with insertion fees of two cents - I know this increase has been difficult for some of our sellers. To reward our eBay Stores sellers, we’ll be crediting $15.95 - a month’s Basic Stores subscription - in May to all sellers who operated an eBay Store for the month of April. Stores owners will receive more details on this soon.

We also want to do something for the rest of our sellers. I’m happy to announce that effective at midnight tonight, eBay.com and eBay.ca will reduce minimum insertion fees for Auction-Style listings, Fixed Price, Motors Non-Vehicle and B&I non-Capital Equipment Categories from 30 cents to 25 cents (CA$0.35 to CA$0.30). eBay Germany has always used this pricing, and users there have benefited from higher conversion rates on items with lower starting bids.

One of the great things about eBay is the candor and passion of our Community. Your input keeps this company focused on what’s right and important. Later this month, I’ll be hosting an online meeting to hear more from you. You’ll see more details on the Announcement Board soon. And I’ll periodically post notes like this one to talk about issues of importance to all of us.

eBay has never stopped listening to our users and we never will. I know many of you already have Meg’s e-mail address and frequently send her messages about things you care about. I hope you will do the same with me. My e-mail address is billcobb@ebay.com. I promise I’ll read every e-mail. And most of all, I’ll listen.

Sincerely,

Bill Cobb
President
eBay North America

Tags: API, app, blog, Canada, community, control, conversion, critical, current, EAD, Germany, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, IP, Issues, it, media, North America, Om, One, online, pr, president, review, spam, United States, users, web, Yahoo!

In writing the last post, I was thinking about what factors go into making the Web performance of a site "excellent". What defines in the minds of the sites users/customers/visitors/critics/competitors that the performance of a Web site is excellent?

These are usually judged by the standard factors:

• Usability
• Responsiveness
• Availability
• Traffic
• Reliability
• Security
• Clarity

But within the company itself, how is the performance of their Web site judged to be excellent?

Right now, most people use the external metrics mentioned above to determine excellence. However, it must be remembered that there are two other critical factors that need to be considered when managing a large IT infrastructure.

• Ease of Management. This is a metric that is often overlooked when determining if a Web site is excellent from an internal perspective. Often it is simply assumed that running a large IT infrastructure is incredibly complex; in most cases this is true. However, is it too complex too manage efficiently and effectively? How much time is spent finding the cause of problems as compared to resolving them?
• Cost of Operation. This is always a big one with me. I look at sites that are trying to squeeze as much performance and availability out of their sites as they can. At some point, the business has to step back and ask, "How much does another half-second of speed cost us?". When this context is placed around the "need for speed", it may open a few eyes.

When this two critical internal factors are combined with the raw external data that can be collected, collated and analyzed, some other ideas come to the forefront as KPIs in Web Performance Excellence:

• Cost Per Second. The cost of a Web site is usually only calculated based on the negative metric of how much it costs when the site is down. Well, how much does it cost when the site is up? Can that number be reduced?
• Revenue By Speed. Which customers spend the most on your site: LAN, home-broadband, or dial-up?
• Person-hours per day. How many person-hours per day does it take to manage your Web site?
• True Cost of Performance Issues. When there is a performance issue, the cost is usually associated with lost revenue. Reverse that and ask how much did it cost in time and materials to resolve the issue.

The creation of new Web performance excellence metrics is crucial if companies truly want to succeed in the e-business arena. Business management has to demand that IT management become more accountable to the entire business, using metrics that clearly display the true cost of doing business on the Web.

Tags: broadband, business, critical, customers, data, IE, IM, ISP, Issues, it, LAN, metrics, Om, One, performance, performance issues, pr, Reliability, run, traffic, users, visitors, web, Web Performance

Jeremy has added more on his firing (here).

I am going to burn my bridges with more than a few potential Canadian employers by saying that this does not surprise me at all from the Canadian management mentality. In some ways, it is still stuck in the Victorian era: paternalistic and vindictive. My interviews with Canadian companies have always left me going, "I don’t want to work for them!".

Why? Because the HR Teams at Canadian companies are designed to remove critical thinkers and free spirits. I have yet to find a Canadian company of any size where innovative thought and inventive concepts were allowed to flourish.

I would name some examples, but that would get me into even more hot water.

Corporate Canada — and Corporate America, for that matter — has to accept that people talk about companies: to friends; colleagues; and the world. Blogging just makes that more global.

As Jeremy states, companies need to understand that blogger and companies have to agree where the line is, and soon.

Hmmm…more than a few hits on this article from HSC, Jeremy’s former employer.

Tags: blog, Blogging, Canada, corporate, critical, design, hits, HTTP, IE, it, Om, pr, views