ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the key aspects of portal performance such as caching, performance testing, and other aspects related to portal performance engineering. Performance is a key ingredient for the success of any online platform. In a portal scenario, performance is of prime importance as portal eco-system involves multiple layers, multiple systems and hence multiple points of failure. During information aggregation, the portal depends on various content sources and it becomes challenging to maintain optimal performance. The principal judge of the portal performance is the end user as most of the portals are predominantly targeted for Internet audience. Caching frequently accessed information on the portal page improves performance of the portal site, delivers enhanced user experience, and reduces resource consumption on the web server, application server, and database server. Caching optimizes content retrieval by storing frequently accessed data in the closest possible location. Layer-wise caching is also one of the most effective techniques to achieve optimal performance in multilayer systems.
