Platform SDK: Windows Sockets

Writing High-Performance Windows Sockets Applications


Microsoft® Windows® networking components, developed for performance and scalability, enable applications to maximize available network bandwidth. Windows Sockets and the Windows TCP/IP protocol stack have been tuned and streamlined, and as a result, properly written Windows applications can achieve exceptional throughput and performance, as the following facts illustrate:
·        Windows is capable of servicing over 200,000 simultaneous TCP connections.
·        In a test conducted by SPECWeb96, Internet Information Server on Windows serviced over 25,000 HTTP requests per second.
·        Windows set a transmission record of over 750Mbps on a transcontinental Gigabit network consisting of 10 hops.
These achievements illustrate that Windows TCP/IP processes data very quickly. Many applications, however, do not take advantage of the performance capabilities of Windows, of TCP/IP, or of Windows Sockets, because they unknowingly implement performance-hampering techniques.
This guide points out common performance-hampering techniques and how to avoid them. This guide also explains programming techniques that enable Windows Sockets applications to perform as well as possible.
This guide is presented in six sections. Each section addresses important issues for high performance Windows Sockets applications. The order of the sections is intentional; to get the most out of this guide, read it in order.
The following table provides jumps to each section, as well as a brief description of each topic's content.
Topic        Description
Network Terminology        Defines networking terminology and metrics necessary to understanding the performance of a network application.
Performance Dimensions        Discusses performance dimensions that affect the perceived and actual network performance of an application.
TCP/IP Characteristics        Defines TCP/IP protocol characteristics that can result in performance issues for a poorly written application.
Application Behavior        Explains how to recognize signs of a poor performing network application.
Improving a Slow Application        Provides samples of application design issues that contribute to a poorly performing application, and makes changes to the poor-performing code to increase performance.
Best Practices for Interactive Applications        A list of best practices for developing interactive network applications.



Platform SDK Release: August 2001
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Platform SDK: Windows Sockets

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