Compressing network data on a server port

To reduce the amount of data transmitted between an IBM® Notes® workstation and IBM® Domino® server or between two Domino® servers, enable network compression for each enabled network port. Whether you should enable compression on a network port depends on the type of network connection and the type of data being transmitted.

About this task

For compression to work, enable it on both sides of a network connection. To enable compression for a network port on a server, use the Server tab in the Domino® Administrator. To enable compression on network ports on Notes® workstations, from the Domino® Administrator, use a setup or desktop policy settings document or from a workstation, use the User Preferences dialog box.

You benefit from using network compression only if the data being transmitted is not already compressed. In the case of a network dialup service such as Microsoft's Remote Access Service (RAS) which includes built-in compression, enabling compression on Notes® network ports does not provide any additional benefit. The same is true of tasks involving data that was compressed using the Lempel-Ziv algorithm (LZ1 compression) -- such as replicating a mail file with a large number of compressed attachments.

While compression decreases bandwidth use on a LAN, you must weigh this gain against increased memory and processor use, since network compression works by buffering data before compressing it. The cost of compression might be worth it only for a heavily loaded network.

Procedure

  1. From the Domino® Administrator or Web Administrator, click the server for which you want to turn on network compression.
  2. Click the Configuration tab.
  3. Do one of these:
    • From the Domino® Administrator's Tools pane, choose Server > Setup Ports.
    • From the Web Administrator's Port tool, choose Setup.
  4. Select the port for which you want to turn on compression.
    Note: Make sure Port enabled is selected for that port.
  5. Select Compress network data.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click the Server > Status tab.
  8. Do one of these so that the change takes effect:
    • From the Domino® Administrator's Tools pane, select Restart Port. (If you can't see the Tools pane, make sure you are in the Server Tasks view.)
    • From the Web Administrator's Ports tool, select Restart.