HTTP 1.1 Improves Net Efficiency

October 1997 / Reviews / Web Servers Get Skinny / HTTP 1.1 Improves Net Efficiency

All Web servers, even small ones, need to have HTTP embedded in their core OS in order to function. HTTP 1.0, which works in conjunction with the TCP protocol in the IP famil y, is used for packetizing Web information such as HTML documents and file downloads.
One advantage of HTTP 1.0 is that it is very bursty; it's great for handling multiple tasks and switching from one thing to the other. But there's always room for improvement. HTTP 1.1, a reworking of its predecessor, is designed to ease n etwork congestion by reducing the number of connections required between client and server.
The keepalive function of HTTP 1.1 is an example of this improved efficiency between HTTP and TCP. TCP reaches full data transfer efficiency only when the connection between the client and the server is kept open. HTTP 1.0 closes that connection after each request. Keepalive keeps a route or "tunnel" open all the way through the network, allows persistent connections, and remains open for multiple requests. The benefit to the Web server is capacity; many documents can be accessed with one connection.

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