Well, any discussion about a platform that scales vertically to 64+ cores may be
moot, when 90% of customer's workloads fit nicely on a 4-core system. The
price/performance & overall value of an entry-level model 720 is best in its
class. I can see a lot of JEE, PHP, and RPG workloads running together on it.
Or, it being used as a DB & batch server for .Net clients. I also acknowledge
that in the event that a model 720 became too small to handle a workload, then
one might get better ROI by distributing the workload across two of the same.
-Nathan
----- Original Message ----
From: Evan Harris <auctionitis@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Web Enabling the AS400 / iSeries <web400@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, October 13, 2010 5:49:51 PM
Subject: Re: [WEB400] Microsoft .NET frontending IBM i
I never said at any point that you should change platforms or that the
i was not a good solution - for you at least. I simply said that
scalability was not as simple as you described it - "adding cores" -
and that your comparisons to server farms were overly simplistic -
that still applies in my opinion.
There is no sense in considering a different solution in your case as
you have a considerable investment in the i and have developed an
architecture that supports modern interfaces and works well for you.
Why would you change ? Well done, and I mean that sincerely.
Unfortunately, scalability is also about entry cost - scaling *DOWN* -
would you choose the i as your platform if you were beginning
development of your product from scratch if you did not already have
the investment in expensive hardware and a niche language like RPG ?
Would you have invested in developing a framework when there are so
many free existing frameworks (not on i) to choose from ? Would you
have hired scarce and expensive iSeries personnel as opposed to
commodity and plentiful PHP/.NET/whatever people ? On a technical
basis you might still say "yes", but would this be considered a sound
business decision ?
You can't just take one example (your own) that the i works well for
and make a case that the i as a platform scales well, your situation
is quite unique. Unfortunately.
What sort of platform (hardware, OS, Database) are we needing?
-Nathan
midrange.com
