Http Compression
Http compression is one of the must haves for a production site. I can't recall the number of times I have been asked about this.
The following is a link from the Microsoft site how to do it. This is another article about it
What Is HTTP Compression?
HTTP Compression is a wonderful technology that accomplishes a lot of different things. It allows faster page serving to clients and lower server costs due to lowered bandwidth (these two being enough for me to implement). There are a handful of articles out there that explain how to implement HTTP Compression in Internet Information Server (IIS) 6.0, but I haven’t been able to find a nice step-by-step article, so I decided to set one up. In this how-to, I’ll briefly explain what HTTP Compression is and how it works in IIS 6.0, and then provide step-by-step instructions on how to implement it because it’s not as simple as flipping a switch. In fact, there are many things in multiple places on the server you have to properly configure to implement HTTP Compression. HTTP Compression is when a Web server receives a request for a file and instead of just serving the file to the client, it checks to see if the client browser (or application) is "Compression Enabled". If so, the Web server does a check on what type of file is being requested (this is determined by the file’s extension). If the file is marked as a static file, such as an HTML file, IIS will check the Compression Cache Temporary Directory.
If a compressed version isn’t found, IIS will send an uncompressed version of the file to the client and a compressed version is placed in the temporary directory (IIS will only serve to the client from the temp directory). If the compressed version is found, IIS will send the file directly to the requesting client. If the requested file is a dynamic file, such as an ASP.NET Web form, then the response is dynamically compressed and sent to the requesting client (no temp directory access is ever done).
HTTP Compression is when a Web server receives a request for a file and instead of just serving the file to the client, it checks to see if the client browser (or application) is "Compression Enabled". If so, the Web server does a check on what type of file is being requested (this is determined by the file’s extension). If the file is marked as a static file, such as an HTML file, IIS will check the Compression Cache Temporary Directory.
If a compressed version isn’t found, IIS will send an uncompressed version of the file to the client and a compressed version is placed in the temporary directory (IIS will only serve to the client from the temp directory). If the compressed version is found, IIS will send the file directly to the requesting client. If the requested file is a dynamic file, such as an ASP.NET Web form, then the response is dynamically compressed and sent to the requesting client (no temp directory access is ever done).