Use Network Message Compression (-mc) to compress messages between an OpenEdge client and Progress Application Server for OpenEdge.

Use Network Message Compression (-mc) only between OpenEdge clients and compatible servers. If the client and server are not compatible, a communication error occurs. For more information on specific compatibilities, contact Progress Software Corporation Technical Support.

When a compression-enabled client connects to a PAS for OpenEdge instance that is not compression-capable, compression is disabled for the network connection. When a compression-capable instance receives a compressed message from a compression-enabled client, it can decompress messages from the client and will respond to the client with a message in a compressed form.

Message compression can improve message throughput by reducing network overhead within the lower communication layers. This is more common on slower topologies, such as dial-up and WAN configurations. Progress recommends that you proceed with caution on faster, more optimized networks where network performance is higher. The high per-packet processing cost of enabling compression can increase network latency as it improves throughput. The net result could degrade the overall performance of the application.