Added a performance guide.

docs/source/development.rst

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 .. include:: /includes/_links.rst
 
-Further development
+Further Development
 -------------------
 
 Although PySNMP is already a mature software and it is being used at many

docs/source/index.rst

@@ -29,16 +29,20 @@ and behavior of popular Net-SNMP snmpget/snmpset/snmpwalk utilities.
 They may be useful in a cross-platform situations as well as a testing
 and prototyping instrument for pysnmp users.
 
-Quick Start
------------
+Quick Start and Samples
+-----------------------
 
 You already know something about SNMP and have no courage to dive into
 this implementation? Try out quick start page!
 
+We also have a collection of sample scripts to help you learn more about
+every aspects of PySNMP.
+
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 1
 
    /quick-start
+   /examples/index
 
 Documentation
 -------------
@@ -71,26 +75,19 @@ Conceptual and API documentation are in the following section.
 
    Documentation about the SNMP protocol can be found on `PySNMP Homepage`_.
 
-Samples
--------
-
-We have a collection of sample scripts to help you get started with PySNMP.
-
-.. toctree::
-   :maxdepth: 2
-
-   /examples/index
-
 Troubleshooting
 ---------------
 
-If you are having trouble with PySNMP, please check the following section.
+If you are having trouble with PySNMP, please check the following section
+to learn troubleshooting tips, upgrade guides, and performance tuning
+advice.
 
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 1
 
    /troubleshooting
    /upgrade
+   /performance
 
 Downloads
 ---------

docs/source/performance.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+.. include:: /includes/_links.rst
+
+Performance Tuning
+==================
+
+PySNMP is a highly optimized software. However, there are some knobs you
+can turn to make it work even faster. Here are some tips:
+
+Disabling MIB Support
+---------------------
+
+Loading MIB metadata into memory is a costly operation. If you are not
+using MIBs in your application, you can disable MIB support by
+
+TODO: Add a code snippet here.
+
+Run Python Release Mode
+-----------------------
+
+Python interpreter can run in debug and release modes. Running in release
+mode can make your Python code run faster. To run Python in release mode,
+you can use the following command:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+   $ python -O myscript.py
+
+Choosing the Right High-Level API
+---------------------------------
+
+PySNMP comes with two high-level APIs: v1 and v3.
+
+If you are using SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c, and you are not using any security
+features in your application, you should use the v1 API. The
+``SnmpDispatcher`` based API is the fastest API in PySNMP, as it simply
+sends SNMP packets and does not do any heavy processing on the packets.
+
+If you are using SNMPv3, you have to use the v3 API with USM and VACM to
+handle security and access control. The v3 API is significantly slower than
+the v1 API because it builds up a local secure engine and has to do more
+processing on the packets in order to be compliant with SNMPv3 standards.
+
+Using the right API, and using the right features in the API can make your
+application run reasonably fast.
+
+Don't trust blindly other Python SNMP libraries claiming to be faster. They
+either lack of essential features that make the comparison pointless or
+they bind to native libraries that become your nightmare to maintain and
+deploy. In the end the performance is limited by the Python interpreter and
+the SNMP protocol itself.