10 Proven Ways to Optimize Your ASP.NET Application Performance

Making the most use of technology tools and offering a satisfying user experience for users is essential for .NET developers when it comes to application performance optimization.

However, it might be difficult to understand where to begin with the wide range of tools and methods that are accessible.

In this blog, we will discuss the top ways to optimize the performance of ASP.NET, which are based on real-world expertise and industrial standards.

What is the ASP.Net framework?

Microsoft is the company behind the .NET development platform. It offers an interface for creating and running programs across numerous programming languages and OS.

Asp .NET Performance Optimization is essential to increasing the scalability, reliability, and efficiency of .NET development services.

Although .NET apps exhibit slow performance, this is not a sign that they cannot be improved. Any program’s efficiency and effectiveness may be continuously increased with a few minor adjustments at times, and some outstanding outcomes can be accomplished.

How does it operate?

ASP.Net allows developers to create interactive websites with minimal code, allowing them to create scalable applications. ASP.Net provides client-side control of state technique.

It gives developers the option to target the ASP.Net framework with a language of their choice. However, this is still ideal for the entire ASP.Net development company. Customers may anticipate ever-larger services that are more dependable and timely.

Therefore, as one of the top ASP.NET development companies in India, you would either identify ways to improve the speed of your ASP.Net or hire ASP.Net developers.

1) Always use the most recent version of ASP.NET Core:

The initial iteration of ASP.NET Core, version 2.2, was made available in 2016 along with Visual Studio 2015.

The application written on ASP.NET Core 2.2 (the most recent version) runs much faster than the previous version if you compare the performance improvements between the first and current versions.

Every version that Microsoft releases has some performance improvements over the one before it.

Thus, if possible, utilize the most recent version of ASP.NET Core while developing an application with it.

2) Keep your code from blocking calls:

An application’s main goal is to run numerous processes at once, and ASP.NET apps are no different. A thread pool will be present, providing resources and carrying out each request.

But when a process enters a block state, there aren’t enough threads available, so the pool becomes starved. It also serves as the main cause of reduced performance and speed.

To tackle this issue, you have to:

• Allow for the simultaneous operation of many processes and configure the hot code paths asynchronously.
• Avoid using the task run.
• Make the ASP.NET Core Razor Page’s operations asynchronous.

3) Turn off View State

Disabling View State is another tried-and-true method to improve ASP.NET application speed. As a state management strategy, ASP.NET maintains page and control values throughout round trips with the help of the View State method.

You can disable View State to save up additional space in your application in instances where it is not required. When the control is input-only and changes only as a result of user actions, View State is not necessary.

Additionally, if the control is populated afresh following each postback, View State is not required. Disabling View State can be done at the control, page, application, and machine levels using various coding techniques.

4) Employ Caching

In software development, caching is a method for temporarily storing data that is computationally demanding or often accessed. The cache serves as a quick-access memory link between the program and the data source.

One extremely important element of .Net development is its caching mechanism. It circumvents the client/server procedure and offers better performance. ASP.Net offers three different kinds of caching.

Tips:

The output cache should be used if the complete pages contain any static content. It operates by storing the content on IIS. The page will load instantly from IIS upon request for a predetermined amount of time. A portion of the web page can also be stored via fragment paging.

The creation of .NET web applications can make use of several caching techniques. Depending on the unique needs and .NET application architecture, you can choose the best caching approach to optimize ASP.Net speed and improve the user experience.

5) Reduce the Number of Allocations in Big Items

The ASP.NET Core program’s memory is released and all allocations are handled concurrently by the .Net Core garbage collector.

Programmers should refrain from adding pointless items to hot code pathways since cleaning up unreferenced objects takes CPU time. The trash collection is expensive.

Program execution must be momentarily stopped to clear up large heap generations like generation 2. The output of the application will suffer from frequent allocation and cleanup.

Tips are as follows:

• Think about storing frequently used, huge things in a cache. Large-object caching prevents expensive allocations.
• To hold big arrays for pool buffers, use the ArrayPool < T >.

6) First load the CSS

Start by loading your website’s CSS material, ideally in the page’s head section.

You must have a basic understanding of how browsers operate to get the logic behind this. The browser will try to begin rendering the application as soon as it has finished downloading a page that has any content.

Because the browser is unaware of what content on the website could contradict its assumptions, it frequently renders something akin to a guessing game.

All of the work that has been done must be undone and restarted when the browser recognizes that it has made a mistake in determining how the page should be shown.

The insertion of a new stylesheet is one of the factors that results in one of these reflows. To prevent a style from changing an element that has already been rendered, load the style files first.

7) Make use of JSON serialization:

“System.Text.Json” is used by ASP.NET Core 6.0 to serialize and deserialize JSON to and from options. This implies that you won’t have to wait for other processes to finish reading and writing JSON asynchronously. Use JSON instead of Newtonsoft as it provides greater performance.

Additionally, the System.Text.Json namespace offers conforming features, low allocation, fast performance, and the ability to serialize and deserialize JSON text to objects and objects to JSON text.

You can now serialize using a UTF-8 array as an alternative to string-based approaches. This approach executes five to ten percent quicker.

8) Pooling of connections

It can be costly to set up the TCP connection between your Web application and SQL ServerTM. Connection pooling has been available to Microsoft developers for a while now, enabling them to reuse connections to the database.

A new TCP connection is only established when one is unavailable in the connection pool, as opposed to being established for every request.

There are a few guidelines to follow to make the best .Net practices using connection pooling:

Establish the connection, complete the task, and then shut it down. Instead of keeping the connection open and transferring it via various means, it’s OK to open and close the connection several times for each request.

Secondly, if you’re utilizing integrated authentication, make sure you use the same thread identity and connection string.

You won’t receive the same optimization value from connection pooling if you don’t utilize the same connection string—for instance, if you customize the connection string depending on the user who is signed in.

Additionally, your pooling will be far less effective if you impersonate a large number of users while using integrated authentication.

9) Memory enhancements

It’s a comprehensive tool for your application that directly affects how effectively it functions. Ineffective resource management will strain your CPU, which will lower performance.

Memory optimization is a crucial consideration in ASP.NET application performance. Developers can minimize memory-related issues and make their systems more scalable by using object pooling, object reduction, and memory leak prevention.

Tips:

• When you subscribe to events, don’t forget to unsubscribe and remove event handlers when they’re not needed anymore. If this isn’t done, things might not get picked up for trash collection.
• Ensure that items are released when they are no longer required. Eliminate superfluous references to objects so that they can be disposed of by trash collection.
• Circular references between things should be used with caution, as they can keep objects from being trash collected. When necessary, use flimsy references or break the circular references.

10) Employ HTTP Compression

It’s a widely used technique in building an ASP.Net application and for performance optimization. To significantly enhance performance and shorten transmission times, HTTP compression works by compressing content into the Gzip format and sending data over the wire. Two formats are supported by them:

Static Compression: Static cache content is typically compressed for it to function. The request has been compressed, and a compressed version is being used in the subsequent request. not compressing the dynamic one, but rather the static one.

Dynamic Compression: Unlike static content, dynamic compression involves frequent content changes. Furthermore, it allows compression without putting data in the cache.

Read more: Why Choose ASP.NET for Your Real Estate Website?

How to manage the performance of ASP.NET?

To keep the program running and address errors promptly, event monitoring is essential. Monitoring ASP.NET applications is important for several reasons, including:

• To verify the site’s accessibility and usage.
• Each time the page loads, the application raises an exception.
• The program functions as intended; however, backend procedures or invoices are not being executed.
• Other processes that the program may run could use resources and cause the primary process to lag.

ASP.NET Performance Monitoring:

1. Web performance: Total effectiveness of the application
2. Particular key transactions: Pay special attention to significant “key transactions.”
3. Application exceptions: New errors and error rates
4. SQL queries: Determine which queries are sluggish overall.
5. Application dependencies: How well do programs like Redis, SQL Server, and MongoDB work?
6. Windows Performance Metrics: Custom metrics or counters
7. Logs: Keep an eye on application logs for any particular problems.
8. Request tracing: See performance information at the code level.

Ways to manage .Net performance:

You may evaluate and keep track of your Web application’s performance with a variety of available tools. Performance counters are built into ASP.NET and can be used to monitor how your application is running.

Additionally, you can track code execution for a page or an application by using the built-in ASP.NET tracing functionality.

Tracking Particular ASP.NET Requests or “Prime Transactions”

There are web requests in every program, and they are highly significant. It may be a page with issues, a request volume that is excessive, or a crucial page like a shopping cart.

It is strongly advised that these “key transactions” be closely observed. They offer a good “pulse” of the entire application and assist in ensuring that crucial features are operating as intended.

Tracking SQL Performance

A centralized SQL database is essential for web applications. There are numerous situations in which serious performance issues with your ASP.NET application are caused by database issues. An essential component of ASP.NET performance monitoring is thorough SQL monitoring.

Retrace the Monitoring of .NET Exceptions

When something is not functioning properly, developers usually search for application defects first. Strong error tracking and monitoring are offered by Retrace.

When a new ASP.NET exception is discovered or when error rates are elevated, it can notify you via email. As always, we advise keeping an eye on mistake rates. They offer a useful sanity check for identifying peculiar application issues.

Monitor custom metrics

Numerous metrics are available with Windows Performance Counters, which you may use to keep an eye on your ASP.NET apps.

It takes much more than just determining whether your ASP.NET application is slow to monitor its performance. You can have a much deeper understanding of your application’s performance by keeping an eye on custom metrics.

Conclusion

These were only a few easy methods to help your ASP.NET apps run faster and more smoothly. Many other ways and tools are also available to tackle .NET performance.

For developers, optimizing an application is a process rather than a single step that should eventually become second nature.

To determine the performance gains following an optimization, programmers need to additionally benchmark the application’s performance.