I have run into a strance performance problem with Tomcat that I am at a loss to
figure out. In a nutshell, when I run Tomcat (version 3.2.1, standalone) on a Solaris
Sparc server and hit it with a Windows client, the minimum response time is is abount
0.2 seconds. This is for a simple servlet that just returns some static data. That
may not sound like a lot of time but if a client makes several requests to the server
it can add up fast. If I run the server on a Linux PC that number is about 0.01
seconds or less. I also get good performce if I use a Linux client and hit the
Solaris server.
I have tried using different PC clients (different PCs, one running NT 4 and one with
Windows 2000), different test programs (one in Java and one in Visual Basic) and it
makes no difference.
I have tried using different Solaris servers, a 420R and an Ultra 5, neither with any
kind of load. I have tried different JDKs (1.2.2 and 1.3.0). No difference.
I wrote a quickie standalone Java server for the Sparcs and their response time was
very fast (< 0.01 secs). The server reads a request, sends a reply, and closes the
socket much like a web server would.
So the problem combination seems to be Solaris server with Tomcat and a PC client. I
know this sounds nuts but it's totally repeatable and a very serious problem. Does
anyone have an idea what I can do to get to the bottom of this?
Thanks a lot.
Douglas Hornig
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Lebanon, NH
