Reduce your Bandwith with mod_gzip 1

[Arie1]

Hi,

There is a free module for Apache available at

http://www.remotecommunications.com/apache/mod_gzip/

Mod-gzip will compress your server’s output (TXT, HTML, PHP, CGI and some other types).

All modern Web browsers have the ability to uncompress these files (natively so NO plug-in req.).

I am saving around 900MB a day on 40-45,000 page views.

If you have your own server, I would say this is a MUST!!!

I am just a happy user of this mod, and have no affilliation with the producers of mod_gzip.

Regards,

Arie Slob,
InfiniSource, Inc.

http://www.infinisource.com

Internet & Windows Resources

 

[Hokey]

This is a great module, but unfortunately MS has two browsers that wont work with it. Read the article at

http://webreference.com/internet/software/servers/http/compression/

Under the title: Is Compression Built into the Browser?

While most 1.1 compliant browsers will accept gziped pages, IE Mac 4.5/5 will not. I have tried using this module and was greatly impressed, but as soon as I realized that Mac users with those versions of IE (all iMacs are shipped with 4.5 or 5) could not browse my site, I had to remove it (kicking and screaming). Even though less than 2% of my connections are Macs, alienating any potential customer is bad for business.

Until browser manufacturers (I am looking in your direction M$) learn what “compliant” means, mod_gzip will be one of the best, but unusable modules.

Now for the question for you Apache gurus out there: mod_gzip compresses text data depending on the HTTP connection (if(connection == 1.1) compress; else dont_compress). Can you think of a way to have Apache not compress depending on the OS (if (connection == 1.1 && OS != Mac) compress; else dont_compress?

 

[Arie1]

Hi,

If you know the "User Agent" string from these browsers, you can exclude them in the mod_gzip config.

For example, I exclude Opera browsers (who also have problems with mod_gzip) by adding this:

mod_gzip_item_exclude reqheader "User-Agent: .*Opera.*"

I don't know the User Agent string for the IE-Mac browsers, I get maybe 0.01% of them....

 

[Hokey]

(does a little jig) ... you mean I can now reinstall mod_gzip

The only User-Agent that contains '*Mac*' are macintosh computers. I will give it a try with one of my test servers.

 

[Arie1]

YES!!!

I just tested it myself, and added
mod_gzip_item_exclude reqheader "User-Agent: .*Windows NT 5.0*"

And it worked. This was in my log:

mod_gzip: DECLINED:REQ_HEADER_FIELD_EXCLUDED

Declined here just means that mod_gzip doesn't 'do' anything, and the server serves the page like normal....