```json
{
    "title": "GrabPERF: What and Why",
    "url": "https://performancezen.com/2008/12/01/grabperf-what-and-why/",
    "datePublished": "2008-12-01",
    "dateModified": "2022-05-11",
    "language": "en-US",
    "description": "Why GrabPERF? About four years ago, I had a bright idea that I would like to learn more about how to build and scale a small Web performance measurement platform.…",
    "author": "spierzchala",
    "publisher": "Performance Zen"
}
```

# GrabPERF: What and Why

### Why GrabPERF?

About four years ago, I had a bright idea that I would like to learn more about how to build and scale a small Web performance measurement platform. I've worked in the Web performance industry for nearly a decade now, and this was an experimental platform for me to examine and encounter many of the challenges that I see on a daily basis.

The effort was so successful and garnered enough attention during the initial blogging boom that I was able to sell the whole platform for a tiny (that is not a typo) sum to Technorati.

The name is taken from another experimental tool I wrote called [GrabIT2](http://grabit2.pierzchala.com/) which uses the PHP cURL libraries to capture timings and HTML data for HTTP requests. It is an extension of my articles and writings on Web performance that started at [Webperformance.org](http://webperformance.org/), and that have since moved to this blog.

### What is GrabERF?

GrabPERF is a multi-location measurement platform, based on PERL, cURL, PHP, and MySQL that is designed to

### Why not Full Pages with all Objects?

**Reason 1: **I work for a company that already does that. Lawyers and MBAs among you, do the math.

**Reason 2:** I am an analyst, not a programmer. The best I can say about my measurement script is *hack job*.

### Why is the GrabPERF interface so clunky?

See reason 2 above.

If you want to write your own interface to the data, [let me know](http://grabperf.org/contact.php).

### Why has the interface not changed in nearly three years?

The current interface works. It's simple, clean, and delivers the data that I and the regular users need to analyze performance issues. If there is something more that you would like to see, [let me know](http://grabperf.org/contact.php)!

### I like what I see. How can I host a measurement location?

Just contact me, and I can provide you with a list of PERL modules you will need to install on your linux server. In return, I need a static IP address of the machine hosting the measurement agent.

### How stable is GrabPERF?

Most of the time, I forget it's even running. I have logged onto the servers and typed in *uptime* and discovered that it's been 6 months or more since the servers have been re-booted.

It was designed to be simple, because that's all I know how to do. The lack of complexity makes it effectively self-managing.

Shouldn't all systems be that way?

### What if my question isn't asked / answered here?

Your should know the answer to this by now: contact me.