Plugin Benchmark Add-On

This is a small script to measure the performance of a Plugin. Plugin authors can use it to measure and document the TWiki:Plugins/Benchmark numbers.

Usage

• Specify Plugin name and other topics to benchmark. The first parameter is the Plugin name, followed by topic names. The TWiki web is assumed unless specified.
• Example:
  % ./pluginbenchmark TablePlugin GoodStyle FormattedSearch Main.TWikiUsers

Notes:

• Before running the benchmarks, disable mod_perl or SpeedyCGI in case used
• Run utility on web server's shell where TWiki is installed
• Measure when there is no load on the server
• All Plugins are automatically disabled except for the DefaultPlugin and the specified Plugin. The classic TWiki skin is enabled

Example output

% ./pluginbenchmark SpreadSheetPlugin FormattedSearch GoodStyle
TWiki Plugin benchmark tool. Time::HiRes is used.
Measuring, please be patient...
Topic:                          Without:  With:     Percent:
------------------------------  --------  --------  --------
TWiki.SpreadSheetPlugin            0.481     0.506       95%
TWiki.FormattedSearch              1.677     1.694       99%
TWiki.GoodStyle                    0.301     0.304       99%

Add-On Installation Instructions

Note: You do not need to install anything on the browser to use this add-on. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the add-on on the server where TWiki is running.

• Download the ZIP file from the Add-on Home (see below)
• Unzip PluginBenchmarkAddOn.zip in your twiki installation directory. Content:

  File:	Description:
  data/TWiki/PluginBenchmarkAddOn.txt	Add-on topic
  data/TWiki/PluginBenchmarkAddOn.txt,v	Plugin topic repository
  bin/pluginbenchmark	Benchmark utility script

• Patch TWiki::Plugins if needed:
  • Currently activated Plugins: SpreadSheetPlugin, CommentPlugin, BlackListPlugin, ChartPlugin, EditTablePlugin, GaugePlugin, InterwikiPlugin, LocalCityTimePlugin, PerlDocPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RenderListPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiDrawPlugin, TWikiOrgPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TopicCreatePlugin, TwistyPlugin, VarCachePlugin, WysiwygPlugin
  • Test if above list shows only the DefaultPlugin
  • In case not, apply the TWiki:Codev/DebugEnablePlugins patch. This allows one to enable and disable installed Plugins with a debugenableplugins URL parameter
• Configure the utility script:
  • Edit bin/pluginbenchmark and set the variables on top to reflect your environment
  • Note: This utility calls the geturl script, which has been moved from the twiki/bin directory to the twiki/tools directory. In Dakar, change the path to ../tools/geturl.pl
• Install CPAN:Time::HiRes if needed:
  • Run the pluginbenchmark utility from the shell without parameters, it will tell you if Time::HiRes is installed or not.
  • It is strongly recommended to run the utility only with Time::HiRes installed (it will work without the module, but it is very slow and the result is not accurate)
• Test if the installation was successful:
  • Run the pluginbenchmark utility from the shell:
    % ./pluginbenchmark TablePlugin GoodStyle

Add-On Info

• Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Measure the performance of a TWiki plugin

Related Topic: TWikiAddOns

-- TWiki:Main/PeterThoeny - 11 Nov 2004