Everyone we talk to who works with Magento is concerned about speed. As we've noted earlier, Magento's complex architecture is simultaneously good and bad. The level of functionality and extendability is practically unparalleled in the world of open source platforms, yet even with proper use of indexing and caching, substantial site traffic can make your Magento site feel like a tortoise on sedatives.

The problem lies, in part, in the fact that developers assume that open source is analogous to quick and easy. The fault is not Magento's: it is what is it — a powerful, yet complex, e-commerce platform.

Therefore, if you want to use Magento to its fullest, it's your responsibility to make sure you have the resources and tools to capitalize on its power. In Chapter 1, Planning for Magento, we discussed technical requirements for running a Magento installation. Now, let's discuss some ways of increasing its speed and performance.