Tools boost Web server speed

BMC Software (BMCS) will introduce a set of software tools next week that can increase Web server response time five-fold, the company claims.

Three new elements have been added to BMC's stable of application and database management tools: a Patrol CGI Server, Patrol Knowledge Modules for CGI Servers, and CGI Applications. BMC officials claim that use of the tools can boost the performance of intranet and Internet applications by a factor of five.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts are generally used as server-based programs that are activated when users click on a certain icon on a Web page. CGI scripts determine how Web servers and backend databases communicate, for example.

The new BMC tools do not require programming changes to applications or HTML files. The software offloads CGI processing from the Web server and provides parallel CGI processing, load balancing, and recovery to maximize a Web server's performance.

A beta version of the Patrol CGI Server will be available for download this month on the company's Web site. A final release is planned for July for all three products. They will support Microsoft Windows NT, Sun Microsystems' Solaris, Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX, and Digital Equipment's Unix variant. Web server support includes Netscape Communications Web servers, Microsoft Internet Information Server, and Apache HTTP Server Project Web servers.

Pricing for the new BMC software tools starts at $1,000 for a Patrol CGI Server and at $1,000 each for the two Knowledge Modules.