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Opera Unite Web Server Benchmarked

Posted by timothy on from the not-bad-for-a-bonus-feature dept.

worb writes "Opera Unite comes with a web server which is supposedly going to 'redefine the web.' But how well does it actually perform? Is it a threat to other server solutions? Someone put it to the test, and published the results. While nginx, one of the fastest web servers available, is 5 times faster, a PHP+Apache+MySQL server is only 2 times as fast. A compiled C++ server, the MadFish WebToolkit, is 6 times faster. He concludes that Opera Unite's server is impressive, and that the others come nowhere close to the ease of use."

8 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Misleading, again by SteelRealm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Opera's Unite is not meant to refine the web as a hosting solution in the traditional sense, but as a way to make your files accessible to yourself and others through it. I don't think anyone is questioning whether it is a better hosting solution then a dedicated server. It's also worth it to note that Unite is a Alpha release with lots of bugs to be fixed and performance tuning and optimization to be done.

  2. Disturbing trend by nausea_malvarma · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm disturbed by the centralization taking place on the web, where by networks like email are replaced with proprietary walled-garden social networks, and entire webpages once written in the open html standard are being done entirely in flash. I'm starting to have hope for the future now. HMTL 5 will reduce the need for proprietary plugins, for sure. This Opera web server thing could work towards decentralizing the web as well. Sure, anybody can set up a web server to host their own content in theory, but its too difficult for average folks to do. With this technology, perhaps more people will sidestep commercial options, and host web pages on their own - meaning less reliance on geocities, google sites, ect. And thats good. It's not healthy for a few companies to have that sort of control over a medium.

    1. Re:Disturbing trend by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Informative

      all of your exchanges pass through Opera's servers first.

      Only if you're behind NAT, and your router isn't configured to allow UPnP.

      Otherwise, individual connections are truly peer-to-peer. Opera servers don't get involved. They are only used to publish the list of services available for your account, not to access them (except for the NAT workaround).

  3. Re:It's a toy... by SteelRealm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not meant to act as a serious server, just to allow easy access to files and content made avaible to Opera on the user's computer. They said it's unlikely PHP and MySQL will be added, but the possiblity that they might do it is there in the future. It's a toy to attract users and to maintain those who may consider leaving the browser, and it's doing just that. Anyone who wants to share content with friends/family can easily do it, and it's incredibly handy for people who use multiple computers.

  4. Re:Still an Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...and leave all your data on someone else's server, which is exactly what Unite allows you NOT to do. Why would I pay for web hosting or let Facebook hold my data hostage when I can distribute whatever I want, including any size pictures (have you seen the size of Facebook photos?) to whomever I want using Unite?

  5. I feel vindicated to some extent by bogaboga · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...He concludes that Opera Unite's server is impressive, and that the others come nowhere close to the ease of use...

    When I suggested that Apache needed some thing near to easy configuration, I was labeled a troll and requested not to tinker with such a server if I did not know what I was doing. By the way, I know Apache has some configuration GUIs but none comes close to Opera's offer.

    In fact, I was castigated for being one of those who crave "point and click" interfaces that are "responsible" for most of the chaos on the internet.

    I am happy that I have one fellow who agrees with me. I will not be surprised if Opera's web server snatches market share from the established ones.

  6. Re:Still an Epic Fail by Fallingcow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you want to do all the tasks done by Unite but easier, get cheap or free web hosting and a Facebook page.

    I can set up 40GB+ of music to play via a decent-looking web interface for anyone I send a password and URL to in less than a minute and with 5 or 6 clicks using my Facebook account and some shared web hosting? 'Cuz I did that earlier today with Opera Unite.

    I went in to this skeptical, and I barely even used Opera before this (I'm a web developer and, though I admire Opera, I need the tools available in Firefox) but it only took about 5 minutes of tinkering with this thing for me to be sold on it. I believe my exact words on testing the media sharing were "whoa, fuckin' cool!"

  7. Re:So Opera web browser now runs as a system servi by BikeHelmet · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is an Alpha or Beta. Opera 9.64 (final) is only 5.3MB large.

    On my computer Firefox consumes way more memory than Opera - but it has so many extensions and plugins installed, that I'd be surprised if it didn't.