slow performance using basic-proxy.js vs. no proxy

Problem

Hey all, I have been running some ab tests against the basicproxy.js service and have noticed it's about 3 times slower using the proxy than not. I'm on node 0.8.8 and ubuntu 11.10. Using proxy > ab -c 10 -n 1000 http://127.0.0.1:8000/ > Total response time was approx. 4 seconds No proxy > ab -c 10 -n 1000 http://127.0.0.1:9000/ > Total response time was approx. 1.7 seconds I ran the proxy with node http debugging enabled for a single request and this was the output. NODE_DEBUG=http node basic-proxy.js 1 request through proxy HTTP: SERVER new http connection HTTP: server response shouldKeepAlive: false I'm proxyrequest get base result HTTP: outgoing message end. HTTP: SERVER new http connection HTTP: server response shouldKeepAlive: true HTTP: write ret = true HTTP: outgoing message end. HTTP: AGENT incoming response! HTTP: AGENT isHeadResponse false HTTP: write ret = true HTTP: AGENT socket keep-alive HTTP: outgoing message end. HTTP: server socket close HTTP: server socket close 1 request without proxy HTTP: SERVER new http connection HTTP: server response shouldKeepAlive: false HTTP: write ret = true HTTP: outgoing message end. HTTP: server socket close Is the performance difference simply because we're asking the proxy to do that much more, that 3x increase seems like something is askew here. I tested this with different ab parameters, played around with the maxSockets settting and tried a different http agent, but nothing seemed to speed up going through th