Description

This book provides design and operation strategies for open source internet networks. The book should be shelved in the computer section of the bookstore, in the Open Source, Networking, and Linux subsections.

Table of Contents

Contents at a Glance

Introduction

1          Scaling Up (and Down)             5

2          Principles for Avoiding Failure                11

3          Mission-Critical Environments                25

4          High Availability.
            HA! No Downtime?!                 37

5          Load Balancing
            and the Utter Confusion Surrounding It                      61

6          Static Content Serving
            for Speed and Glory                75

7          Static Meets Dynamic
            Adding Caches to Reduce Costs                      105

8          Distributed Databases Are Easy, Just Read the
            Fine Print                      137

9          Juggling Logs
            and Other Circus Tricks                                  169

10        The Right Tool for the Job                     199

A         Spread              227

Index                247

Back Cover

As a developer, you are aware of the increasing concern amongst developers and site architects that websites be able to handle the vast number of visitors that flood the Internet on a daily basis. Scalable Internet Architecture addresses these concerns by teaching you both good and bad design methodologies for building new sites and how to scale existing websites to robust, high-availability websites. Primarily example-based, the book discusses major topics in web architectural design, presenting existing solutions and how they work. Technology budget tight? This book will work for you, too, as it introduces new and innovative concepts to solving traditionally expensive problems without a large technology budget. Using open source and proprietary examples, you will be engaged in best practice design methodologies for building new sites, as well as appropriately scaling both growing and shrinking sites. Website development help has arrived in the form of Scalable Internet Architecture.

Author

Theo Schlossnagle is a principal at OmniTI Computer Consulting, where he provides

expert consulting services related to scalable internet architectures, database replication,

and email infrastructure. He is the creator of the Backhand Project and the Ecelerity

MTA, and spends most of his time solving the scalability problems that arise in

high-performance and highly distributed systems.