Learning HTTP/2 : a practical guide for beginners

What can your organization gain by adopting HTTP/2? How about faster, simpler, and more robust websites and applications? This practical guide demonstrates how the latest version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol can dramatically improve website and application performance. You'll take a deep dive into HTTP/2 details, and learn how this updated protocol is changing the web landscape. With this book, you'll explore: - HTTP/2 in a nutshell, including benefits and transition methods - HTTP/2 support for browsers,... Cover 1 Copyright 4 Table of Contents 5 Preface 9 Who Should Read This Book 10 What This Book Isn’t 10 Recommended Resources 10 Conventions Used in This Book 11 Using Code Examples 11 O’Reilly Safari 12 How to Contact Us 12 Acknowledgments 13 Javier Garza 13 Stephen Ludin 13 Foreword 15 Chapter 1. The Evolution of HTTP 19 HTTP/0.9 and 1.0 20 HTTP/1.1 21 Beyond 1.1 22 SPDY 22 HTTP/2 22 Chapter 2. HTTP/2 Quick Start 25 Up and Running 25 Get a Certificate 26 Use an Online Generator 26 Self Signed 26 Let’s Encrypt 26 Get and Run Your First HTTP/2 Server 27 Pick a Browser 28 Chapter 3. How and Why We Hack the Web 29 Performance Challenges Today 29 The Anatomy of a Web Page Request 29 Critical Performance 32 The Problems with HTTP/1 34 Web Performance Techniques 39 Best Practices for Web Performance 40 Anti-Patterns 48 Summary 49 Chapter 4. Transition to HTTP/2 51 Browser Support 51 Moving to TLS 52 Undoing HTTP 1.1 “Optimizations” 54 Third Parties 56 Supporting Older Clients 56 Summary 57 Chapter 5. The HTTP/2 Protocol 59 Layers of HTTP/2 59 The Connection 60 Frames 62 Streams 65 Messages 66 Flow Control 69 Priority 70 Server Push 71 Pushing an Object 71 Choosing What to Push 73 Header Compression (HPACK) 74 On the Wire 76 A Simple GET 76 Summary 81 Chapter 6. HTTP/2 Performance 83 Client Implementations 83 Latency 85 Packet Loss 88 Server Push 90 Time to First Byte (TTFB) 92 Third Parties 94 HTTP/2 Anti-Patterns 99 Domain Sharding 99 Inlining 100 Concatenating 100 Cookie-less Domains 100 Spriting 100 Prefetch 101 Real-World Performance 101 Performance Measurement Methodology 102 Study 1: www.facebook.com 102 Study 2: www.yahoo.com 104 Summary 107 Chapter 7. HTTP/2 Implementations 109 Desktop Web Browsers 109 TLS Only 109 Disabling HTTP/2 110 Support for HTTP/2 Server Push 110 Connection Coalescing 110 HTTP/2 Debugging Tools 110 Beta Channel 111 Mobile 111 Mobile App Support 111 Servers, Proxies, and Caches 112 Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) 113 Summary 113 Chapter 8. Debugging h2 115 Web Browser Developer Tools 115 Chrome Developer Tools 115 Firefox Developer Tools 122 Debugging h2 on iOS Using Charles Proxy 124 Debugging h2 on Android 126 WebPagetest 127 OpenSSL 127 OpenSSL Commands 128 nghttp2 128 Using nghttp 128 curl 130 Using curl 130 h2i 132 Wireshark 133 Summary 134 Chapter 9. What Is Next? 135 TCP or UDP? 135 QUIC 136 TLS 1.3 137 HTTP/3? 138 Summary 138 Appendix A. HTTP/2 Frames 139 The Frame Header 139 DATA 140 DATA Frame Fields 140 DATA Frame Flags 140 HEADERS 141 HEADERS Frame Fields 141 HEADERS Frame Flags 141 PRIORITY 142 PRIORITY Frame Fields 142 RST_STREAM 142 SETTINGS 143 SETTINGS Parameters 143 PUSH_PROMISE 144 PUSH_PROMISE Frame Fields 144 PUSH_PROMISE Frame Flags 144 PING 145 GOAWAY 145 GOAWAY Frame Fields 146 WINDOW_UPDATE 146 WINDOW_UPDATE Frame Fields 146 CONTINUATION 147 CONTINUATION Frame Fields 147 CONTINUATION Frame Flags 147 Appendix B. Tools Reference 149 Index 151 About the Authors 155 Colophon 155 What can your organization gain by adopting HTTP/2? How about faster, simpler, and more robust websites and applications? This practical guide demonstrates how the latest version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol can dramatically improve website and application performance. Youll take a deep dive into HTTP/2 details, and learn how this updated protocol is changing the web landscape. HTTP/1.1 has been the primary means of communicating data across the web for the past 20 years, but the level of interaction today has gone well beyond what people envisioned in 1997. With this book, authors Stephen Ludin and Javier Garza show you how HTTP/2 will help speed the execution of modern sites and applications. With this book, youll