Recently, I encountered a challenging performance issue with one of my Adobe Commerce (Magento) clients. They were experiencing significant slowdowns due to a third-party extension for their megamenu, which came with a variety of fancy features like specific content per customer group and per page. While these features were great in theory, they turned out to be more of a hindrance than a help in this particular case.

After enabling the Magento Profiler, I was able to identify the root cause of the issue, and through communication with the client, I found a practical solution that improved the performance without the need for over-complicated fixes. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through the debugging process, how to use the Magento Profiler effectively, and why it’s essential to take a business-focused approach when solving technical problems.

Enabling the Magento Profiler

When dealing with performance issues, the first thing I did was enable the Magento Profiler. It’s a great tool to help you identify bottlenecks and performance degradation by measuring the time taken for each block or process to load.

By default, the Magento Profiler outputs its data in HTML format directly on the page you’re viewing. While this is helpful for quick checks, it can sometimes be ineffective for detailed analysis. The output can be overwhelming, and it’s harder to spot issues in the child processes since the profiler’s HTML report doesn’t give you a clear hierarchical view. The data is all jumbled up, and it’s easy to miss crucial information.

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bin/magento dev:profiler:enable 

Better Approach: Using CSV Output

To get more detailed insights, I recommend using the CSV output option. The CSV format provides a much clearer overview of the performance metrics, making it easier to analyze and compare different processes. With the CSV file, I was able to pinpoint the exact issue causing the slowdown—something that wasn’t as apparent in the HTML view. The profiler output will be available in the file:

/var/log/profiler.csv

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bin/magento dev:profiler:enable csv

Debugging the Megamenu Block

Once the profiler was set up and I had the CSV output, I started analyzing the performance. The results were shocking. The megamenu’s PHTML template file was taking more than 10 seconds to load! In a fast-paced eCommerce environment, that’s pretty much unimaginable.

At this point, there were two options on the table:

1. Dive into the module and spend hours researching why it was so slow, attempting to optimize it in every possible way.
2. Remove the module entirely and either implement the same features using custom code or try another third-party extension.

As a developer, it’s tempting to go down the rabbit hole of fixing things technically, but I quickly realized this may not be the best path forward. Here’s where I had to shift my perspective.

A Business-Focused Approach

When working in eCommerce, it’s important to remember that the technical steps we take as developers aren’t always aligned with the needs of the business. In this case, while optimizing the existing module might have been the technically “right” move, I needed to consider what was truly required for the business.

I reached out to the customer and asked them:

“Do you even use these features, like specific content per customer group or per page? Or do you plan to use them in the future?”

The response was clear—they didn’t need these advanced features, and they weren’t planning to use them anytime soon.

Practical Solution: Simplifying the Cache Strategy

Given that the fancy features were not being utilized, I shifted my approach. Instead of spending time optimizing the module, I focused on improving the caching strategy for the megamenu block.

The original module generated cache tags based on multiple parameters, including customer group and page URL. This was inefficient and led to poor cache usage. Why? Because the whole purpose of block HTML caching is to serve cached content across different pages. If a user had already visited a page, the full-page cache would serve the content anyway, so caching the block HTML on a per-page basis didn’t make sense.

What I Did:

1. I modified the getCacheKeyInfo method for the megamenu block.
2. Removed unnecessary parameters like the customer group and page URL, simplifying the cache key to only depend on the store view.
3. Implemented a cache warmer that would visit the homepage of each store view. By visiting the homepage, all other pages of that store view would be automatically covered by the cache.

This approach made a lot more sense from both a technical and business perspective. The megamenu block was now effectively cached across the store view, significantly improving performance without the need for overly complex optimizations.

Key Takeaways

• Magento Profiler: Use the profiler to identify performance bottlenecks. The CSV output is much more detailed and informative than the default HTML view.
• Communication with Clients: Always check with your clients to understand their real needs. What seems like a cool feature might not actually be needed, and optimizing it could be a waste of time and resources.
• Practical Business Solutions: Not every problem needs a technical “nerdy” fix. Sometimes, a simple caching strategy can solve the problem more effectively.
• Simplify Cache Segmentation Magento is a powerful platform that handles a wide range of edge cases. However, depending on the complexity of your project, you might need to scrap some of these complexities, such as cache segmentation for block HTML cache or context variables in full-page cache.

In the end, the solution wasn’t about diving deep into module optimizations or reworking the entire system. It was about communicating with the client, understanding their business needs, and taking a pragmatic approach to solving the performance issue.

I hope this story highlights the importance of considering the business side of things in our development work. And, of course, it’s always good to take advantage of tools like the Magento Profiler to help you diagnose issues more effectively. Happy coding! :D