Rules of Using Data Compression

Because occasionally the use of data compression might slow down the transfer speed, you must determine whether to use data compression based on the actual situations.

For best results, do not compress a file when the Platform Server nodes are communicating over a high-speed network. For example, when TIBCO® Managed File Transfer Platform Server for Windows is communicating with TIBCO MFT Platform Server for z/OS over a 1gb network, enabling data compression in the data transfer might slow down the transfer because extra CPU cycles are used to compress data.

In the following situations, it is a good practice to use data compression:

• When the network speed is less than 1 mbps.
• When the data to be transferred contains repeating characters or strings. This usually occurs in text files rather than in binary files.
• When DES or 3DES data encryption is used. Both DES encryption and 3DES encryption are heavy users of CPU cycles. The Platform Server compresses data before encrypting data. Therefore, if data compression is used, the amount of data to be encrypted reduces and less CPU cycles are required for data encryption.