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Three Areas For Achieving Scalability
By Joe Purcell
Expert Author
Article Date: 2011-06-29
One of the greatest concerns today among IT staff involved with the internet is the scalability of their web applications. For some companies this can be a show stopper. Finding the right tools and having the right skills are not always easy to come by. However, looking in the following three areas is a step in the right direction: hardware, resource distribution, and architecture.
Hardware
The easiest thing to do is throw in more hardware. Instead of relocating data, installing new systems, and the like, adding more memory, hard drives, or processing power can go a long way. Configuring the hardware in the right way can also improve capacity. Adding caching programs and eliminating unnecessary processes can free up needed space. It may be that the bottleneck of the system is not software oriented, but an older router with only 100 Mb ports. Finding these hold ups may be all that is needed to achieve the next scale.
Resource Distribution
Load balancing is a simple and effective way to scale a system. A major concern for systems that must be continuously available is fault resistance. Distributing resources across several servers, and even in several locations can provide both increased and faster availability. Geographical considerations need to be taken into account as well. It may be that more servers are needed in one location and less in another, or perhaps a resource being outsourced is too far away from the devices using it. As the saying goes, "many hands make light work," and the same goes for computer resources.
Architecture
Virtual machines can optimize your entire system by consolidating resources onto the same server, and spreading out resources where needed. There are even I/O virtualization devices that can be of great benefit to I/O intensive systems. Another aspect of architecture is the layout of the network itself. It may be that a switch or router between a server and the user base accessing it needs to be removed entirely, or perhaps a firewall could be removed using harder security measures on the servers behind it as an alternative.
Hopefully, this outline can help you take a look at where your system can be improved. Often good statistical analysis and being creative and innovative can go a lot further than having deep pockets. Having scalability planned and designed for from the start can pay off in the long run, and, thus, is something that should regularly be revisited. The unpredictability of the technology world today combined with its fragility requires such contingency plans be on reserve.
About the Author:
Joe Purcell is a technology virtuoso, cyberspace frontiersman, and connoisseur of Linux, Mac, and Windows alike.
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