Subversion protocol performance

Question

I'm just getting started/familar with Subversion and was wondering which protocol gives the best performance file:// or svn://, when accessing a Subversion repository over the network? If we don't use the svn:// protocol, will be missing out on any features that we couldn't mitgate using the file:// protocol? We're all on the same NT domain & plan on using Windows Auth and use NTFS/UNC security.

TIA!

Answer 1

The SVN Book recommends that you do not use the file:// protocol for multiple users

Choosing a Server Configuration:

Do not be seduced by the simple idea of having all of your users access a repository directly via file:// URLs. Even if the repository is readily available to everyone via a network share, this is a bad idea. It removes any layers of protection between the users and the repository: users can accidentally (or intentionally) corrupt the repository database, it becomes hard to take the repository offline for inspection or upgrade, and it can lead to a mess of file permission problems (see the section called “Supporting Multiple Repository Access Methods”). Note that this is also one of the reasons we warn against accessing repositories via svn+ssh:// URLs—from a security standpoint, it's effectively the same as local users accessing via file://, and it can entail all the same problems if the administrator isn't careful

Answer 2

If you want to use windows auth, use the http(s) protocol, together with apache. It is a bit harder to set up, and not necessarily faster, but allows you to use standard apache authentication methods for authentication. Including various windows based authentication schemes, or kerberos.

Btw. Normally protocol speed is not a factor with svn speed. Svn caches the info on disk, so most regular actions are based on local cache. Next, the speed factor is in the repository and the network bandwith, not in the protocol.