It has been at least a year since I last updated everyone on the state of GrabPERF. That’s because for most of the last year, the system has been rolling along without a hitch or a major systemic change. The last major change to the agent code was alomost exactly a year ago, when I added the ability to capture text matches.

It wasn’t until last week, however, that I allowed folks to be able to see the results of these text match failures. Let’s just say that motivation has been low and my real job has been keeping me busy.

I did want to share the growth, and mellowing of the system as it progresses into year three.

grabperf-measurement-count-aug122007

Total Measurements Per Day

grabperf-uniqe-test-count-aug122007

Unique Tests Measured Per Day

Back in July 2005 when I started this grand experiment, I was gathering 10,000 measurements a day from less than forty tests. The system spiked at 390,000 measurements per day (April 2006) and 147 tests (June 2006).

Starting just after that, I started reducing the number of tests to improve system efficiency, and began developing the text match capability.

There have been some changes to the number of measurements, but on the whole, the system has been completely stable for the last 12 months.

As some of you may have noted, I have add some new features in the last 10 days, and re-organized the structure of the system to allow for better tracking of usage. Over the next few months, I will be attacking the code to make it process things more efficiently, but not substantially change the appearance or functionality of GrabPERF.

It has been noted by some commentators that the design doesn’t pop and sizzle. No AJAX, DHTML, or other flashy gizmos. Guess what? The system is designed to deliver data efficiently and effectively. And as someone who has seen the performance fall-out from badly delivered Web 2.0 implementations, I will stick with clunky and effective, as, in the end, you gotta put all those bytes on the wire.

For those that have stuck with the system over the last year, thanks. I enjoy delivering the best measurement data money can’t buy, and hope you stick around for the ride.