First call to a .net webservice is slow

Question

I'm calling a .net webservice from my .net winforms app, both in framework 4.0. During the execution of the program, the first time the webservice has a method called, the call takes ~10-12 seconds. Subsequent calls take ~1-2 seconds. Subsequent calls, even when the web reference instance is recreated, are still ~1-2 seconds. When the winforms app is restarted, the first call delay occurs again, but subsequent calls are responsive.

The instance of the web reference is being created prior to the call occuring, and is not part of the delay.

XmlSerializers for the winforms app are being generated (and used, as far as I know, but I'm not sure how to verify this).

The delay is not occuring because of a first-run compilation on the webservice side. This is a production webservice that is being used throughout the day, and its apppool is remaining in memory. As far as I can see, the delay is occurring either on the client side, or between the client and the server for that first call, but not subsequent calls.

Not sure what to check next. Any ideas?

Answer 1

As spender had indicated, the issue had to do with the proxy detection. Turning that off in Internet Explorer solved the problem, but was not feasible to do in my situation.

Instead, there is a workaround to bypass the use of the default proxy, and therefore the automatic detection.

Adding these entries to the app.config allows certain URLs to bypass the proxy:

<configuration>
    <system.net>
        <defaultProxy>
            <bypasslist>
                <add address="server/domain name" />
            </bypasslist>
        </defaultProxy>
    </system.net>
</configuration>

More information can be found here: <defaultProxy Element> on MSDN

Answer 2

try setting the proxy to an empty WebProxy, ie:

request.Proxy = new WebProxy(); 

or you can override the proxy settings in the .Config file for your application using the defaultProxy key in the system.net section. The following disables automatic Proxy detection:

<configuration >
  <system.net>
    <defaultProxy>
      <proxy bypassonlocal="true" usesystemdefault="false" />
    </defaultProxy>
</system.net>
</configuration>

http://weblog.west-wind.com/posts/2005/Dec/14/Slow-Http-client-calls-from-ASPNET-20-Make-sure-you-check-your-Proxy-Settings

Answer 3

Apologize for the necro-add, but this issue has come up a number of times for me, and I have a habit of forgetting all the aspects of this issue each time. So here's the list (some of which other people mentioned)

• Change your System.ServiceModel.BasicHttpBinding so that the BypassProxyOnLocal and UseDefaultWebProxy are both false. (You can decide whether you want to do this in a config file or via code.)
• Change the ‘Generate Serialization Assembly’ in the projects ‘Build’ properties to ‘On’ instead of ‘Auto’
• Make sure you’re using a modern .NET framework. 4.6.1 is about 60 MS faster than 4.5.2 on the first request, for instance.
• Do your performance testing on a Release Executable, not within VisualStudio (VS adds a large additional overhead on the initial call that is not reflected in the actual release .exe build.)
• If you're working with a service/site that continually run, definitely consider sending a dummy request to the server upon startup - simply to get .NET to serialize the connection up front. Likewise, if you're writing a run-and-quit app, consider writing a background dummy request while the program is starting up.
• Make sure the service you're connecting to doesn't recycle very often. Every time the app pool recycles on an IIS service, the first request coming in after recycle can take awhile.
• Make sure the service you're connecting to doesn't hibernate. By default, a service hibernates after 20 minutes of inactivity - and the next request that comes in has a delay similar to a post-recycle request.