HTTPS performance slow on the newest releases.

[Igor Sysoev]

On Fri, Aug 07, 2009 at 03:24:42PM -0400, michaelvv wrote:

> Hi Igor.
> 
> I found the solution....
> 
> First the benchmark compiled against openssl-0.9.8k
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________
> Server Software:        nginx/0.6.38
> Server Hostname:        192.168.1.97
> Server Port:            443         
> SSL/TLS Protocol:       TLSv1/SSLv3,AES256-SHA,1024,256
> 
> Document Path:          /index.php
> Document Length:        4 bytes   
> 
> Concurrency Level:      50
> Time taken for tests:   3.881 seconds
> Complete requests:      5000         
> Failed requests:        0            
> Write errors:           0
> Total transferred:      1105000 bytes
> HTML transferred:       20000 bytes
> Requests per second:    1288.48 [#/sec] (mean)
> Time per request:       38.806  (mean)
> Time per request:       0.776  (mean, across all concurrent requests)
> Transfer rate:          278.08  received
> __________________________________________________________________________________
> Server Software:        nginx/0.7.61
> Server Hostname:        192.168.1.97
> Server Port:            443         
> SSL/TLS Protocol:       TLSv1/SSLv3,DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA,1024,256
> 
> Document Path:          /index.php
> Document Length:        4 bytes   
> 
> Concurrency Level:      50
> Time taken for tests:   28.557 seconds
> Complete requests:      5000          
> Failed requests:        0             
> Write errors:           0
> Total transferred:      1106326 bytes
> HTML transferred:       20024 bytes
> Requests per second:    175.09 [#/sec] (mean)
> Time per request:       285.575  (mean)
> Time per request:       5.711  (mean, across all concurrent requests)
> Transfer rate:          37.83  received
> __________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> when i configure the stable version 0.7.61 with 
> 
> ssl_ciphers  AES256-SHA:1024:256:!ADH;
> 
> i got almost the same performance...
> 
> Server Software:        nginx/0.7.61
> Server Hostname:        192.168.1.97
> Server Port:            443         
> SSL/TLS Protocol:       TLSv1/SSLv3,AES256-SHA,1024,256
> 
> Document Path:          /index.php
> Document Length:        4 bytes   
> 
> Concurrency Level:      50
> Time taken for tests:   3.892 seconds
> Complete requests:      5000         
> Failed requests:        0            
> Write errors:           0
> Total transferred:      1105000 bytes
> HTML transferred:       20000 bytes
> Requests per second:    1284.75 [#/sec] (mean)
> Time per request:       38.918  (mean)
> Time per request:       0.778  (mean, across all concurrent requests)
> Transfer rate:          277.27  received
> 
> PS! i got at least 60% more performance from openssl-0.9.8b to openssl-0.9.8k worth to mention...
> 
> Thx for a great product....

Thank you for investigation. 0.6.x does not support DHE ciphers:

Changes with nginx 0.7.2                                         16 Jun 2008

    *) Feature: now nginx supports EDH key exchange ciphers.

    *) Feature: the "ssl_dhparam" directive.


BTW, ADH ciphers are disabled in the default nginx ssl_ciphers:
"ALL:!ADH:RC4+RSA:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:+LOW:+SSLv2:+EXP"


-- 
Igor Sysoev
http://sysoev.ru/en/