[TriLUG] MS Web Host drops connecions from Linux clients

[Scott G. Hall]

Christopher L Merrill wrote:
> Lee Fickenscher wrote:
>> Could it be due to all the asp on their site?
> 
> It is certainly not a problem that is inherent to ASP. Most likely, 
> something is looking at the User-Agent HTTP header and puking when
> it sees Linux.  It could be at the firewall, the web server, or
> deep in their application.

I just checked the site myself and confirmed the slow-load on Ubuntu.
It has nothing to do with header information and acting on Linux.
What I could tell is that the page has an "image preload" function
and that function behaves very different on Windows than on Linux.
Just for kicks and giggles, I saved a copy of the source on my test
box, added a "base ref" header, and took out all of the preload code
-- the result was far faster.

-- 
Scott G. Hall
Raleigh, NC, USA
ScottGHall at BellSouth.Net