1. Page.IsPostBack Property
Keep code which only needs to be loaded once inside an IsPostBack block.
if(!IsPostBack)
{
BindDropDownList();
LoadDynamicControls();
}
As a result there will be no unnecessary database hits and server processing.
2. Enable Buffering
A buffer is a region in main memory to store temporary data for input and output .Data retrival from memory is faster than data retrieval from disk. We should leave buffering on unless there is any specific reason to turn it off. By default buffering is enable.
3. Remove unused HttpModules
There may be lot of HttpModules in Machine.Config that are not actually required for a particular application. In this scenario we should remove those unused HttpModules from application specific web.config file.4. Trim Page Sizes
Reduce page size by removing any unnecessary space and tab characters from the page. As a result network traffic will be reduced.5. Use a CDN
Not a performance tip exclusive to ASP.NET but an important step in speeding up a site is to use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) . CDN’s minimize the latency site visitors experience when they request a larger file from a data center that is located geographically far away. CDN’s cache files at numerous edge locations around the world to minimize latency. If you are using Azure consider using the Windows Azure CDN , Amazon’s CloudFront cheap and easy to integrate into a website (if you happen to have a WordPress blog you can integrate S3 and CloudFront into WordPress)6. Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect
“To perform client side redirection in ASP.NET, users can call Response.Redirect and pass the URL. When Response.Redirect is called, the server sends a command back to the browser telling it to request the page redirected to it. An extra roundtrip happens, which hit the performance. We can send information from the source page by using a query string. There is a limitation on the length of a query string; it cannot be used to pass large amounts of data over the wire. To perform server-side redirection, users can use Server.Transfer. As the execution is transferred on the server, Server.Transfer does not require the client to request another page. In Server.Transfer, by using HttpContext we can access the source page’s items collection in target page. The drawback of using this method is that the browser does not know that a different page was returned to it. It displays the first page’s URL in the browser’s address bar. This can confuse the user and cause problems if the user tries to bookmark the page. Transfer is not recommended since the operations typically flow through several different pages.”7. Precompiling
Precompiling an ASP.NET Web site provides faster initial response time for users because pages do not have to be compiled the first time they are requested. This is particularly useful for large Web sites that are updated frequently. In order to achieve that we can use ASP.NET Compilation Tool (Aspnet_compiler.exe).8. Session State Management
Efficient state management helps to boost the performance and scalability of application. It is not advisable to keep large objects in a session variable and it is optimal to make disable session state whenever it is not required. We can turn session state off either at the Page level or at the application level using the config file.9. ViewState
By default the viewstate is enabled for applications and we should disable it whenever it is not required. Otherwise it will increase the page size. Every byte added to a web page by enabling its viewstate causes two bytes of network traffic – one in each direction. Disable
view state in any of the following scenarios:
(i) A readonly page where there is no user input.
(ii) A page that does not postback to the server
(iii) A page which requires rebuilding server controls on each post back without checking the post back data.
It is best practice to turn ViewState off at the application level and then enable it as required at the page or even control level.
10. Caching
Probably the number one performance tip is to use caching. In order to store static data caching is ideal one. There are different types of caching: Page output caching, Page fragment caching data caching and we have to select the correct type as per requirement. In almost all scenarios at least a part of a page can be cached.11. Locking and Shared Resources
Acquire shared resources late and release them as early as possible. Avoid locking unless absolutely necessary. Do not set lock on the “this;” it is better to use a private object to lock on as follows:
public Class Test
{
private stativ readonly objLock=new Object();
public static Test Singleton
{
lock(ObjLock)
{
return new test();
}
}
12. Exception Handling
Handling exceptions in an improper way reduces the application performance drastically. We should try to avoid exceptions. Let’s explain with some code snippet:try
{
validateUser (username,password)
}
Catch(Exception e)
{
DisplayMessage();
}
The above code can be written in better and optimized way to avoid exception as follows:
If(validateUser)
{
//Some code
}
else
{
DisplayMessage();
}
We should avoid rethrowing exceptions because they are expensive as the stack trace is lost and a new stack trace must be created, for example:
try
{
//some code
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
An optimized version of the above code is as follows:
try
{
//some code
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ; //stack trace information is preserved here.
}
13. Null check
Performance can be improved if we check for a null value instead of catching exceptions from attempting to read null items. Here is a code snippet:
Object objItem=Session[“myItem”];
If(objItem==null)
{
//do something else
}
14. Enable the web gardening for multiprocessors computers
In IIS Server there may be multiple application pools and each application pool should have at least a single Worker Process. In multiprocessor machines the work is distributed to several processes – one to each CPU and this technique is known as Web Gardening. Web Gardening should have multiple Worker processes. In case of Web Garden Session Mode should be “out proc” and we can use “Session State Server” or “SQL-Server Session State”. The worker processes in a Web Garden share the requests that come from that particular application pool. If any particular worker process fails, another worker process can continue to process requests and that is the main advantage for application performance and scalability.15. Disable Tracing
Tracing may expose private information, such as the amount of information in view state, page processing time, etc. Enabling tracing adds performance overhead so it should be enabled only while an application is being actively analyzed. Tracing should be turned off using < trace enabled =”false” – – – – -/> in config file.16. Disable debug
By default this attribute is set to “true” which is essential at development time, but always set debug=”false” before deployment otherwise file size will be longer by adding pdb information which delays the page processing.17. Ensure checking of Page.IsValid
While using Validator Controls, make sure that Page.IsValid is checked in code before processing of page.18. Use Paging
We should always load data in a grid type control using paging for faster page loading.19. Avoid Recursive Functions and Nested Loops
A lot of memory consumption occurs when using recursive functions and nested loops. It is always better to avoid nested loops and recursive functions to improve performance.20. Cleaning Up code
Find and remove unnecessary or redundant code to minimize page size. We can use tools like FXCop in for this.21. Keep StyleSheets in the Header and Scripts to the end of Document
Always place StyleSheets into the Header and place scripts at the end of the document. Progressive rendering is blocked until all StyleSheets have been downloaded and progressive rendering is stopped for all content below the script until it is fully loaded.22. Keep JavaScript and CSS External
Keeping Javascript and CSS files external instead of inline can reduce the page size and allow for faster page processing as the JavaScript and CSS files are cached by the browser.23. Minimize the number of web server controls
Only use the ASP.NET server controls when they are required otherwise use standard html controls for faster rendering.24. Validate all Input received from the Users
It is always better to validate all Input received from the users at client side to avoid the server round trip. Server side validation is required for security purpose.25. Use stored procedures:
As per MSDN, a stored procedure is a group of Transact-SQL statements compiled into a single execution plan. Using stored procedure as compared to dynamic quaries boost application performance because stored procedure are precompiled. As a result the network traffic and server overhead are reduced. When a stored procedure is getting executed, sql server creates an execution plan in memory. Subsequent executions of the procedure are much faster because the plan is already available. On the other hand, execution plan for sql queries are recreated for each and every execution. Another point to be noted that when when a stored procedure is executed, a message is transmitted from the server to the client that indicates the number of rows are effected. This can be turned off to reduce network traffic by the following statement: SET NOCOUNT ON ___________________________________________________________________ Please see 50 Tips to Boost Performance of an ASP.NET Application Part II for the concluding 25 tips. Also, 10 Best Practices to Boost Website Speed on CloudHostingMag.com is a good resource. ]]>