How can I use HTTP/2 on my hosting package?
HTTP2 is the new standard for HTTP and brings many improvements, including higher performance. HTTP2 is now available for all hosting packages. In this article we’ll explain how HTTP/2 works and how to use it on your hosting package.
What is HTTP/2?
Just like the name says, it’s the successor to HTTP1.1. When creating HTTP2 , development paid close attention on how to solve the existing problems in HTTP1.1 and how to achieve better performance. One of the things that addresses both goals, is that HTTP/2 can send multiple requests instead of one. This results in pages being loaded faster and shown to the visitor.
Why is HTTP/2 better/faster than HTTP/1?
HTTP1.1 is an old protocol and with the more complex websites.webshops nowadays, something needed to happen to make it function efficiently again. That’s why Google decided to create a new protocol, called SPDY. THis new protocol was the basis for what later became HTTP/2 after teaming up with other high profile companies like facebook and Microsoft.
The higher performance of HTTP/2 has to do with a couple of techniques being used:
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Multiplexing; multiple requests are being sent to the server and the protocol determines which files are to be fetched first.
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Header compression; Compression is used to make the files and headers smaller (compact) and loading a page will take less time this way.
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Server push; this technique lets the browser decide whether or not it already wants to send the javascript and css files to the visitor. The page will me more build this way when the visitor sees it.
How can I use this?
On all our shared hosting packages (Standaard, Premium and Reseller) HTTP/2 is already installed. The only thing left to do is order/request a SSL-certificate. When you make a https:// connection then, you’ll automatically be using the HTTP/2 protocol. How you can order a SSL-certificate is explained in the following articles of our knowledge base:
With cloudhosting it’s a different story. You first need to install the HTTP/2 module on your cloud through EasyApache. How to do this is explained in the article How can I install extra modules/extensions on my cloud?
