Hi


Summary:
If I access the script in question (on a webserver) from my machine, it returns results in 0.5 seconds. For everyone else, it takes 30 seconds.

Script setup:
I have a script that is called directly with no arguments (eg http://domain.com/cgi-bin/script.pl) and returns HTML generated from a template file and database file located on the same server as the script. It is hosted on a Windows2000 server (not my choice) running ActivePerl. The ISP it is hosted on is different to my IPP.

Problem:
If I call http://domain.com/cgi-bin/script.pl I get the HTML returned in 0.5 seconds (even if I shift-refresh). Everyone else seemingly waits 30 seconds for the generated HTML to be displayed.

Attempted Troubleshooting:
I tried adding a coded 'stopwatch' to the script. It is started on the first line of the script and is stopped right before the output - the output of the stopwatch is then printed rather than the final two lines of the script, which are:
print $html_output;
exit;

Troubleshooting Results:
If I do this, everyone can read the stopwatch output in 0.5 secs of acessing the script (they get a total 'script running' time of under a second).

I have been coding perl for 3-4 years, albeit not as a professional, and this completely baffles me. If anyone is willing to help, I would be willing to email them a copy of the script if necessary. I am loathe to post the code here in full for fear of a horde of comments criticising my code without addressing the problem.

Thank you

Daniel Adams

In reply to Huge variance in script run time by Daniel Adams

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