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ipMonitor 8.03 Build 1118 introduced significant enhancements to the way Live Reports are rendered. In prior versions of the software, performance issues were noted depending on the browser being used to display the Live Reports Details and NOC Views. This was due to the XML encapsulation method being applied throughout ipMonitor's AJAX-based Live Report screens.

As of ipMonitor 8.03 Build 1118, the XML encapsulation method was replaced with JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), a lightweight data-interchange format. Unlike XML, JSON can be easily parsed and generated using JavaScript's default eval() procedure. Due to JavaScript's ubiquitous nature among all the major web browsers, Live Reports benefit from an immediate and comprehensive performance boost regardless of the browser being used.

This article describes in detail the tests conducted to gauge browser performance efficiency between the different methods used to render Live Reports.

In order to obtain an accurate picture of the differences between the two encapsulation methods and their effect on rendering times, we compiled a performance dataset for the following browsers:

• Firefox 2.0 (Beta 1)
• Internet Explorer 6.0
• Internet Explorer 7.0
• Opera 9.0

We rendered the AJAX-based Details View Live Report screen for the Global Group, which contained 3,200 Monitors, and then compared the performance of each browser using both encapsulation methods (XML and JSON).

Each test was repeated a total of five times. The test process itself consisted of rendering the page once, and then clicking on the right-most visual refresh indicator to trigger a page refresh. We then measured how long it took for the page to render anew.

The test results are detailed in the next section.

XML Encapsulation Method (Used Prior to ipMonitor 8.03 Beta Build 1118)

Attempt #	Firefox 2.0	Internet Explorer 6.0	Internet Explorer 7.0	Opera 9.0
1	12 seconds	44 seconds	12 seconds	3 minutes, 0 seconds
2	11 seconds	42 seconds	11 seconds	5 minutes, 30 seconds
3	12 seconds	45 seconds	11 seconds	6 minutes, 30 seconds
4	12 seconds	45 seconds	11 seconds	7 minutes, 30 seconds
5	12 seconds	43 seconds	12 seconds	8 minutes, 30 seconds

JSON Encapsulation Method (Used as of ipMonitor 8.03 Beta Build 1118)

Attempt #	Firefox 2.0	Internet Explorer 6.0	Internet Explorer 7.0	Opera 9.0
1	9 seconds	26 seconds	10 seconds	9 seconds
2	9 seconds	25 seconds	9 seconds	9 seconds
3	8 seconds	26 seconds	11 seconds	8 seconds
4	9 seconds	26 seconds	10 seconds	9 seconds
5	9 seconds	27 seconds	9 seconds	9 seconds

It's clear from the results obtained that the new encapsulation method used beginning with ipMonitor 8.03 Beta Build 1118 delivers much faster rendering times for the dataset tested across all four browsers.

Thus, we recommend updating your ipMonitor installation to the newest build at your earliest convenience. We also recommend upgrading Internet Explorer 6.0 to version 7.0, or using either the Firefox or Opera browser to obtain the best performance when rendering ipMonitor's Live Reports.

For information on other features and concepts related to those discussed in this article, refer to the following ipMonitor resources:

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Last Updated: December 18, 2006 | What did you think of this topic?