Re: HTTP 2.0 and a Faster, more Mobile-friendly web

Hi,

What's the usecase of HTTP? And what kind of target does the HTTP/2.0
want to achieve?

The main performance issue of HTTP/1.0 is that one connection for one
request. Since, pipelining has been introduced in HTTP/1.1, without
introducing new header. People argue that pipelining only works
partially because of the interference of network intermediate. Why
don't we just change the default TCP port, or the URL schema? As all
those three protocols break current HTTP-compliant deployment.
Everything has to upgrade to stay in operation.

Considering the networking characteristic of mobile devices, the TCP
connection is meant to be unstable and fragile. Framing control
introduces lot of state in the yet another transport layer. In fact we
have the SIP protocol to refer. As we consider TCP only, the job can
be done by just two headers: Call-ID and CSeq, or squeeze them into
just one header: Transaction-ID. That's much more simple, and much
cleaner.

Speaking about the server notification, I think long-pulling is a very
good way to go. As we are defining new protocol here, we can make the
long-pull operation really very long, maybe as long as the connection
stays alive. If we do that, there is no performance difference between
long-pull and direct push. But for the compatibility sake, long-pull
is far more superior.

For every framing mechanism, the chunked transfer encoding is the
nightmare. We can leverage the 1xx provisional response to eliminate
it, and still retain the streaming ability. This way, network
intermediate will function more effectively.

We don't need another layer of "TCP", do we?

Regards,
Figroc

On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 4:14 AM, Henrik Frystyk Nielsen
<henrikn@microsoft.com> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
>
>
> We remain committed to the HTTP/2.0 standards process and look forward to
> seeing many of you this week at the IETF meeting in Vancouver to continue
> the discussion.  In the spirit of open discussion, we wanted to share some
> observations in advance of the meeting and share the latest progress from
> prototyping and testing.
>
>
>
> There are currently three different proposals that the group is working
> through:
>
>
>
>    * SPDY (http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-mbelshe-httpbis-spdy),
>
>    * HTTP Speed+Mobility
> (http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-montenegro-httpbis-speed-mobility),
>
>    * Network-Friendly HTTP Upgrade
> (http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-tarreau-httpbis-network-friendly).
>
>
>
> The good news is that everyone involved wants to make the Web faster, more
> scalable, more secure, and more mobile-friendly, and each proposal has
> benefits in different areas that the discussion can choose from.
>
>
>
> --- A Genuinely Faster Web ---
>
>
>
> The SPDY proposal has been great for raising awareness of Web performance.
> It takes a “clean slate” approach to improving HTTP.
>
>
>
> To compare the performance of SPDY with HTTP/1.1 we have run tests comparing
> download times of several public web sites using a controlled tested study.
> The test uses publically available software run with mostly default
> configurations while applying all the currently available optimizations to
> HTTP/1.1. You can find a preliminary report on the test results here:
> http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/?id=170059. The results mirror other
> data (http://www.guypo.com/technical/not-as-spdy-as-you-thought) that
> indicate mixed results with SPDY performance.
>
>
>
> Our results indicate almost equal performance between SPDY and HTTP/1.1 when
> one applies all the known optimizations to HTTP/1.1. SPDY’s performance
> improvements are not consistent and significant. We will continue our
> testing, and we welcome others to publish their results so that HTTP/2.0 can
> choose the best changes and deliver the best possible performance and
> scalability improvements compared to HTTP/1.1.
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Taking the Best from Each ---
>
>
>
> Speed is one of several areas of improvement. Currently, there’s no clear
> consensus that any one of the proposals is the clear choice or even starting
> point for HTTP/2.0 (based on our reading the Expressions of Interest and
> discussions on this mailing list. A good example of this is the vigorous
> discussion around mandating TLS encryption
> (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5246) for HTTP/2.0.
>
>
>
> We think a good approach for HTTP/2.0 is to take the best solution for each
> of these areas from each of the proposals.  This approach helps us focus the
> discussion for each area of the protocol. Of course, this approach would
> still allow the standard to benefit from the extensive knowledge gained from
> implementing existing proposals.
>
>
>
> We believe that the group can converge on consensus in the following areas,
> based on our reading of the Expressions of Interest, by starting from the
> different proposals.
>
>
>
> ------------------|------------------
>
> Area              | Opinion that
>
>                   | seems to prevail
>
> ------------------|------------------
>
> 1. Compression    | SPDY or Friendly
>
> ------------------|------------------
>
> 2. Multiplexing   | SPDY
>
> ------------------|------------------
>
> 3. Mandatory TLS  | Speed+Mobility
>
> ------------------|------------------
>
> 4. Negotiation    | Friendly or
>
>                   |   Speed+Mobility
>
> ------------------|------------------
>
> 5. Client Pull/   | Speed+Mobility
>
>       Server Push |
>
> ------------------|------------------
>
> 6. Flow Control   | SPDY
>
> ------------------|------------------
>
> 7. WebSockets     | Speed+Mobility
>
> ------------------|------------------
>
>
>
> Below, we discuss each HTTP/2.0 element and the current consensus that
> appears to be forming within the Working Group.
>
>
>
> 1. Compression
>
>
>
> Compression is simple to conceptualize and implement, and it is important.
> Proxies and other boxes in the middle on today’s Web often face problems
> with it. The HTTP/2.0 discussion has been rich but with little consensus.
>
> Though some studies suggest that SPDY’s header compression approach shows
> promise, other studies show this compression to be prohibitively onerous for
> intermediary devices. More information here would help us make sure we’re
> making the Web faster and better.
>
>
>
> Also, an entire segment of implementers are not interested in compression as
> defined in SPDY.  That’s a challenge because the latest strawman for the
> working group charter
> (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/ietf-http-wg/2012JulSep/0784.html)
> states that the “resulting specification(s) are expected to be meet these
> goals for common existing deployments of HTTP; in particular, …
> intermediation (by proxies, corporate firewalls, ‘reverse’ proxies and
> Content Delivery Networks).”
>
>
>
> We think the SPDY or Friendly proposals is a good starting point for
> progress.
>
>
>
> 2. Multiplexing
>
>
>
> All three proposals define similar multiplexing models. We haven’t had
> substantial discussion on the differences. This lack of discussion suggests
> that there is rough consensus around the SPDY framing for multiplexing.
>
>
>
> We think that the SPDY proposal is a good starting point here and best
> captures the current consensus.
>
>
>
> 3. Mandating Always On TLS
>
>
>
> There is definitely no consensus to mandate TLS for all Web communication,
> but some major implementers have stated they will not to adopt HTTP/2.0
> unless the working group supports a “TLS is mandatory” position. A very
> preliminary note from the chair
> (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/ietf-http-wg/2012JulSep/0601.html)
> states that there is a lack of consensus for mandating TLS.
>
>
>
> We think the Speed+Mobility proposal is a good starting point here as it
> provides options to turn TLS on (or not).
>
>
>
> 4. Negotiation
>
>
>
> Only two of the proposals actually discuss how different endpoints agree to
> use HTTP/2.0.
>
>
>
> (The SPDY proposal does not specify a negotiation method. Current prototype
> implementations use the TLS-NPN
> (http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-agl-tls-nextprotoneg) extension.  While
> the other proposals use HTTP Upgrade to negotiate HTTP/2.0, some parties
> have expressed non-support for this method as well.)
>
>
>
> We think either of the Friendly or Speed+Mobility proposals is a good
> starting point because they are the only ones that have any language in this
> respect.
>
>
>
> 5. Client Pull and Server Push
>
>
>
> There are tradeoffs between a server push model and a client pull model. The
> main question is how to improve performance while respecting bandwidth and
> client caches.
>
>
>
> Server Push has not had the same level of implementation and experimentation
> as the other features in SPDY. More information here would help us make sure
> we’re making the Web faster and better.
>
>
>
> We think the Speed+Mobility proposal is a good starting point here,
> suggesting that this issue may be better served in a separate document
> rather than tied to the core HTTP/2.0 protocol.
>
>
>
> 6. Flow Control
>
>
>
> There has only been limited discussion in the HTTPbis working group on flow
> control. Flow Control offers a lot of opportunity make the Web faster as
> well as to break it; for example, implementations need to figure out how to
> optimize for opposing goals (like throughput and responsiveness) at the same
> time.
>
>
>
> The current version of the SPDY proposal specifies a flow control message
> with many settings are that are not well-defined. The Speed+Mobilty proposal
> has a simplified flow control model based on certain assumptions. More
> experimentation and information here would help us make sure we’re making
> the Web faster and better.
>
>
>
> We think that the SPDY proposal is a good starting point here.
>
>
>
> 7. WebSockets
>
>
>
> We see support  for aligning HTTP/2.0 with a future version of WebSockets,
> as suggested in the introduction of the Speed+Mobility proposal.
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Moving forward ---
>
>
>
> We’re excited for the Web to get faster, more stable, and more capable, and
> HTTP/2.0 is an important part of that.
>
>
>
> We believe that bringing together the best elements of the current SPDY,
> HTTP Speed+Mobility, and Network-Friendly HTTP Upgrade proposals is the best
> approach to make that happen.
>
>
>
> Based on the discussions on the HTTPbis mailing list, we’ve suggested which
> proposals make the most sense to start from for each of the areas that
> HTTP/2.0 is addressing. Each of these areas needs more prototyping and
> experimentation and data. We’re looking forward to the discussion this week.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Henrik Frystyk Nielsen
>
> Principal Architect, Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc.
>
>
>
> Gabriel Montenegro
>
> Principal Software Development Engineer, Microsoft Corporation
>
>
>
> Rob Trace
>
> Senior Program Manager Lead, Microsoft Corporation
>
>
>
> Adalberto Foresti
>
> Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc.
>
>
>
>

Received on Monday, 30 July 2012 06:23:09 UTC