http/2 support

How does http/2 work and what can be gained with it?

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The http 1.x protocol – a word about history

HTTP 1.x is a protocol that was created over 25 years ago and though outdated, it is still widely used on the internet. The current standard is http/2.

The last important protocol update (which only the oldest dinosaurs remember) took place in 1997 where from version 1.0 changed to 1.1. Do you probably remember (of course only dinosaurs remember) that before 1997, only one domain could exist on one IP address? Only http/1.1 protocol allowed so-called virtual servers (virtualhost).

Nevertheless, current websites are completely different from those known from the 90s of the last century. Current websites consist mostly of graphics, css styles and js scripts, the actual content is only a small fraction of the content served. A large update was made, and a new version of the popular HTTP protocol was created, marked as HTTP/2.

The new http/2 protocol

Why did we decide to add it to our hosting offer? We present a few short information about the advantages of the new protocol over the old one.

  • HTTP/2 converts queries to a binary form, which makes data transfer and data processing faster, more effective and generates fewer errors than using the right text.
  • HTTP/2 allows you to transfer multiple files and queries at the same time in contrast to HTTP1.x which accepts only one request / connection at a time.
  • HTTP/2 uses only one connection to send requests and files, which avoids heavy operations such as connections being established
  • HTTP / 2 has built-in heading compression which is another way to improve the discovery of resources from one or several web servers
  • HTTP / 2 allows the server to actively send required content instead of waiting for a browser request to share them

The above changes are aimed at improving one very important parameter – server response speed. The speed of the server’s response translates directly into the loading time of web pages on end-user computers.

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