CODEWITHSUNDEEP
performancemagentossl
Jan van Dongen
Jan van Dongen

Reputation: 66

SSL Speed - specific with Magento

I have seen some general questions regarding speed of SSL, but most answers are generic and ask for specifics to give a better answer. Well, here are my specifics, i really hope someone can help me with some advice what to do.

Question: I would prefer to keep SSL on throughout the site, instead of only at default Magento SSL behavior such as logging in, account edits, orders and payments. So basically, also during product browsing, reading CMS pages, etc. But at what performance cost will this be. I'm only worried about actual performance a user may notice.

I'm running a Magento multistore site on a dedicated server with 4GB memory and dualcore processor with gigabit internet connectivity, running Centos 5 and latest LAMP versions. I run a Comodo SSL multidomain Extended Validation (the 'green bar').

Ask me for any details that are relevant to make a better advice :-)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 863

Answers (1)

Mike Potter
Mike Potter

Reputation: 328

In short, the answer is you will most definitely see a performance hit. This is why Magento was built the way it was. Secure the pages the have private content, and leave the rest open.

Each HTTPS request made using HTTPS, the client and server must deal with verifying the certificate, passing keys, encrypting and decrypting the data. This adds quite an overhead to apache and the OS. You will also loose the efficiencies of local caching of static content, such as stylesheets, javascript pages, images, etc.

As a result, the client will see a increase in load times, Google will ding you for a slow website, conversion will most likely decrease, and possibly other unforeseen consequences.

Here's a conversation from Magentocommerce about constant HTTPS: magentocommerce

In the end, it's not a great idea. Magento does a very good job knowing which pages should be secure and which are fine without.

But, if you MUST, it is possible. Watch your conversion and analytics numbers closely. If you have Google Analytics installed, add page_speed _trackPageLoadTime to your site. Then, at least, you will know what the dammage is.

Upvotes: 1

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