LightTPD slow under Windows

[j7n]

I am running Lighttpd from the WLMP project on Windows XP for personal use. The HTTP server is considerably slower than FileZilla Server, which is also running on the same machine and also Windows SMB network. This occurs on all connections: lighty is always slower relative to expected throughput.

Version 1.4.19.1 (old) achieves about 4 MB/s to another host on LAN via Fast Ethernet, and 16 MB/s on LAN via Gigabit Ethernet, transferring a single file. FileZilla speeds are 10 MB/s and 90 MB/s respectively. Network Neighborhood is 8 MB/s and 60 MB/s. These computers are connected via a gigabit switch.

In attempt to fix the problem I decided to upgrade to the latest version (from WLMP package) 1.4.32.1.

The speed to the same Fast Ethernet host was 560 kB/s!!

I got minimum amount of modules loaded, and very basic configuration. Server was restarted a few times.

I downgraded back, and speeds returned to the previous values, which are still not optimal, especially since SMB, which is sensitive to latency, is performing better.

I suspect it is a socket buffer issue, but I see no parameters in Lighttpd relating to this. The documentation mentions adjusting these settings under Linux only, which do not apply to me. Since running a server under Windows is not considered serious, there aren't any recommendations.

Linux

- net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 65536 524288

- net.core.wmem_max = 1048576

FreeBSD

- net.inet.tcp.recvspace = 4096

My settings under Windows XP, which enable all other services to function fast.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]"TcpWindowSize"=dword:0003ebc0"GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize"=dword:000faf00"EnablePMTUDiscovery"=dword:00000001"EnablePMTUBHDetect"=dword:00000000"SackOpts"=dword:00000001"DefaultTTL"=dword:00000080"TcpMaxDupAcks"=dword:00000002"Tcp1323Opts"=dword:00000001"DisableTaskOffload"=dword:00000000[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AFD\Parameters]"DefaultSendWindow"=dword:00060000"DefaultReceiveWindow"=dword:00040000"BufferMultiplier"=dword:00000400"EnableDynamicBacklog"=dword:00000001

The listening socket in TCPView is listed in a weird fashion (non-existent process), unlike normal programs, which I suspect is relating to the server running from with "cygwin". It still is connectible, except slow.

<non-existent>:4040	TCP	0.0.0.0:80	0.0.0.0:0	LISTENINGFileZilla server.exe:1776	TCP	0.0.0.0:14147	0.0.0.0:0	LISTENING

How do I troubleshoot the issue further? Are there any better Web servers for Windows with vhost support, good stability and reasonable memory footprint?

Edit:

I found an curious little web server, which I hadn't heard of before, the HTTP File Server (HFS). HFS doesn't have the Vhost function despite offering several advanced features like file uploading and a (single) virtual file system, and caps out at 22 MB/s in the my environment, but is able to deliver full 10 MB/s over Fast Ethernet.

This server's Windows native GUI is similar to FileZilla, as is the selection of shared directories into the Virtual File System, which doesn't require that files are moved or symlinked on disk to organize them in the server. The program also supports Windows 98 and is very small.

Edited April 7, 2014 by j7n