So I have CloudCache enabled, why is Prestashop still so slow?

[MassiveRC]

The home page that's hosted with the same provider loads lickety split: http://massiverc.com/

 

Go to Prestashop with Cloudcache (configured by them) and it's like molasses:

 

http://www.massiverc.com/PrestaShop/en/

 

Seriously, the advertising for Prestashop should be: Show your clients enriched content about your products, but be forewarned, you won't be able to collect money, ship, or do eCommerce with it.

[Mark Hesketh]

What other performance settings do you have enabled in Prestashop?

 

The other website you listed looks to be a static HTML page, with no apparent CMS/Database behind it? Pages such as this will always load a lot faster than something like an e-commerce store or many other CMS websites.

 

That said, the Prestashop store is very slow. A quick check checked things like over 30+ CSS files being loaded when one will do, suggesting Prestashop's CSS minify/concatenation isn't being used.

 

Enable all the performance settings you can (Tools > Performance I believe), then see what Google Page Speed has to say https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights

 

If you're still having trouble then, I'd be inclined to think the hosting may need beefing up/changing.

[MassiveRC]

Thanks Mark, freakin Prestashop is faster without CloudCache enabled. I'm going to disabled CloudCache and see what's wrong with PS without Cloudcache's double-edge business killer. Well.........there goes Cyber Monday.

[Mark Hesketh]

I've not tried CloudCache myself, but but found the same thing to be true with CloudFalre... when I got rid of it things were faster... brilliant work chaps!

 

Great news you managed to sort it though, sorry to hear about the bad timing though!

[Trip]

What is your hosting plan? Referring to http://www.webpagetest.org your first time byte takes up to and over 10 seconds.

I never experienced such bad response and when your server can not handle the installation no CDN in the world can make you site faster. Do you have caching enabled under performance tab? Ask your hosting company for support to find the bottle neck.

Best regards, trip

[Dh42]

(Rant)

I think a lot of people are under the wrong impression about what cdn servers do and how to speed up a site.

 

If your site is running on a shared hosting plan, more than likely are site will be slow. There are some providers that do not oversell their servers and you can get decent speed from a shared hosting plan. But you have to take into account with a package like Prestashop there are 3 different speeds you have to tune. You have to tune server side, transfer and client side. So many people run their site through google page speed and are like "oh yeah, I got a great score, so all is good" But google page speed does not take into account execution time on your server. You can have a site that has a 98 gps score and still takes 10 seconds to output the sql for a category page. From what I have seen a lot of people are using cdns / media servers wrong and are misunderstand what they are for. All they are for is to load your static resources from the cloud. Your css files, your image files, your js files. That's all. You should put your whole site behind the cdn, just your static folders. they don't reduce http requests, unless your are using something like cloudflare which will cc your files. They just server them with less of a distance to down the pipes. To sum up a cdn will not speed up your server execution time, it will only try to serve resources geographically closer to the client.

 

(/rant)

[MassiveRC]

I'm using Ipage, Just signed up for their dynamic acceleration so we'll see how it does tomorrow. I'm skeptical about the website tests as when they're showing my site being slower, I actually see it get faster in loading. Can you guys clear your cache and see if my site still loads slow? It loads pretty quick now for me.

[Dh42]

I just did a simple counting, and it was about 10 seconds before I saw anything and 14 before the page was fully loaded. You have a server problem. It is not processing your sql fast enough. Using the site accelerator is pretty much doing the same thing as using cloudcache, its just a different name. It is not going to change the amount of time it takes your server to generate a page. I think your money would be best spent in getting a faster web host.

[Mark Hesketh]

(Rant)

I think a lot of people are under the wrong impression about what cdn servers do and how to speed up a site.

 

If your site is running on a shared hosting plan, more than likely are site will be slow. There are some providers that do not oversell their servers and you can get decent speed from a shared hosting plan. But you have to take into account with a package like Prestashop there are 3 different speeds you have to tune. You have to tune server side, transfer and client side. So many people run their site through google page speed and are like "oh yeah, I got a great score, so all is good" But google page speed does not take into account execution time on your server. You can have a site that has a 98 gps score and still takes 10 seconds to output the sql for a category page. From what I have seen a lot of people are using cdns / media servers wrong and are misunderstand what they are for. All they are for is to load your static resources from the cloud. Your css files, your image files, your js files. That's all. You should put your whole site behind the cdn, just your static folders. they don't reduce http requests, unless your are using something like cloudflare which will cc your files. They just server them with less of a distance to down the pipes. To sum up a cdn will not speed up your server execution time, it will only try to serve resources geographically closer to the client.

 

(/rant)

 

Yes, exactly. Thats why I said if there were still issues after following PageSpeed guidelines and doing all thats possible with Prestashop's front-end that it would be a server side issue.

 

I've not used CloudCache, but if its anything like CloudFlare the slow initial response could have been due to their servers actually responding slower than my own.

[MassiveRC]

Well I have a lot of detailed images and it seems to be loading much quicker for me despite what https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights is saying. I mean when it was showing 88 percent, the page took 10-12 seconds to load. It now loads for me in about 4-5 seconds and pagespeed is showing a 66 score.

 

I'm not doubting that the back end SQL could be lagging. but when I do the daily verify\optimize canned queries, they run instantly in MySQL.

[Trip]

Hi Massive,

you can write what you want but you can't ignore the facts. There are 2 possibilities

a) you misconfigured your installation (disabled caching or whatever)

your server is too slow

If you are sceptical about the website tests use my shop to get something you can compare. My first time byte is under 2 seconds.

On the .com domain I use clouflare but only on subdomains to serve the static content. But anyway. My response time is a lot better although my server is located in germany... so the bottom line, evaluate you configuration or change your provider.

Best regards, trip

[MassiveRC]

Hi Massive,

you can write what you want but you can't ignore the facts. There are 2 possibilities

a) you misconfigured your installation (disabled caching or whatever)

your server is too slow

If you are sceptical about the website tests use my shop to get something you can compare. My first time byte is under 2 seconds.

On the .com domain I use clouflare but only on subdomains to serve the static content. But anyway. My response time is a lot better although my server is located in germany... so the bottom line, evaluate you configuration or change your provider.

Best regards, trip

 

I will be migrating away from iPage at a later date because yes, they do suck and they don't support some of the advanced caching features., but both Cloudcache and Akamai caused SSL errors when enabled. I gave Cloudcache a temporary admin login to my Prestashop, so they should have been able to fix any misconfiguration errors.

[Dh42]

When you think about migrating away, consider web hosting buzz they are who I recommend.

[MassiveRC]

Well, I was the head hardware\server [spam-filter] at my previous employer, so I'll build my own server and host it myself as I know how to build a back end that will scream. The only reason why I went with a provider was because of my previous employer's excellent timing to lay a bunch of us off right before the holidays and I had to scramble to get something together before the Holiday rush. I'll keep your recommendation in mind if I have to stay hosted with a provider.

Edited November 29, 2012 by MassiveRC (see edit history)

[Dh42]

That is generally never a good idea, unless you can provide a gigabit connection, data redundancy, emergency power, and live in a natural disaster free zone.

 

Edit:

I hate to hear that you got laid off before the holidays too. Sorry about that.

[MassiveRC]

That's very true, but I can keep the hosted services as my back up. Thanks for the sentiment. Getting laid off will hopefully be the best thing that's ever happened to me when I look one or two years down the road.