Optimising the Zend Framework

Question

I\'m trying to get as much performance as I can out of my application, which uses the Zend Framework.

I\'m considering using the Zend Server, with APC enabled. Howev

Answer 1

The Source This tip is not new. It is taken directly from the Zend Framework Documentation at: Zend Framework Performance Guide and I used what was written with few things I’ve skip.

Use Zend_Loader and Remove All require_once

We can’t actually remove all require_once statements. We must have at least one require_once to load the Zend_Loader. First, activate Zend Loader.

require_once 'Zend/Loader.php';
Zend_Loader::registerAutoload();

Next would be removing all require_once statements on all files inside the Zend directory. If you are using Eclipse PDT, you can use the find and replace function.

Cache Zend_Db_Table MetaData with Zend_Cache

When you are using Zend_Db_Table (I sometimes only used Zend_Db) you will notice that when you try to retrieve data from the database, the first query called is to DESCRIBE the table. Zend_Db_Table uses the information on DESCRIBE query to do its magic on SELECT.

As I have profiled my queries, I noticed that DESCRIBE query is the longest query (in most cases) which mean a big overhead over you retrieval operation. You have two options:

(A) Don’t use Zend_Db_Table (go for Zend_Db) (B) Cache the MetaData

On this post, I’ll use the caching of MetaData. On your bootstrap file, put this piece of code:

//Caching
$frontendOptions = array(
                    'lifetime'                  => 25200,
                    'automatic_serialization'   => true
                    );
$backendOptions  = array(
                     'cache_dir'                => APPLICATION_PATH . '/tmp'
                    );          
$cache = Zend_Cache::factory(
                    'Core',
                    'File',
                    $frontendOptions,
                    $backendOptions
                    );
//Cache table metadata
Zend_Db_Table_Abstract::setDefaultMetadataCache($cache);

Cache Plugin Loader Class File

When using a plugin, Zend Framework includes several files depending on the plugin used and process several iterations to find the right plugin and include it. With code code below, it creates a list of include_once statements to include those plugin files. Just include this piece of code to your bootstrap.

//Plugin Loader caching
$classFileIncCache = APPLICATION_PATH .  '/data/pluginLoaderCache.php';
if (file_exists($classFileIncCache)) {
    include_once $classFileIncCache;
}
Zend_Loader_PluginLoader::setIncludeFileCache($classFileIncCache);

Caching Your Data

Caching your data will be the most important part of optimization which will save you a lot of database access when repeatedly accessed data already cache. It is important to set the cache expiration time and also clear the cache when data changes. A simple caching is shown below.

On your bootstrap:

//Caching
$frontendOptions = array(
                    'lifetime'                  => 25200,
                    'automatic_serialization'   => true
                    );
$backendOptions  = array(
                     'cache_dir'                => APPLICATION_PATH . '/tmp'
                    );          
$cache = Zend_Cache::factory(
                    'Core',
                    'File',
                    $frontendOptions,
                    $backendOptions
                    );

$registry->set('cache', $dbCache);

This are the basic settings which may helpful I think.