Re: [hybi] Multiplexing in WebSocket (Was: HyBi Design Space)

[Julian Reschke <[e-mail]>]

Ian Hickson wrote:
> On Sat, 10 Oct 2009, Julian Reschke wrote:
>> Ian Hickson wrote:
>>> FWIW, so far I've concluded (based on long discussions with a number 
>>> of developers and implementors) that multiplexing would actually not 
>>> be that great. It could probably only be used for multiplexing to a 
>>> single websocket path, without making the handshake highly asymmetric 
>>> or breaking the HTTP compatibility. If it's intended for per-client 
>>> multiplexing, it can easily be implemented at the application layer, 
>>> where a much better job can be done that could be done at the protocol 
>>> layer. If it's intended for multiclient multiplexing, then it's only 
>>> helping server load, not client performance, and server load isn't 
>>> especially an issue here.
>> ...why exactly is server load not an issue?
> 
> Why would it be an issue? Anyone who is expecting high levels of load 
> would presumably just use a platform on which TCP connections are cheap, 
> just as they do today with HTTP.

My feeling is that whatever the server architecture is, many connections 
per user are always worse than a single one.

I also doubt that, in case the choice of platform *is* relevant here, 
all server developers always will actually have the choice.

So, for clarity, it would probably be good to state in the draft that 
this question was considered not to be an issue.

BR, Julian