

Ask HN: Scalability and .NET stack - abl

Python rocks, but I know at least a few of you out there are using the Microsoft stack... :)<p>Most startups founders I've talked to use Python and Amazon Web Services for scalability. Until Microsoft reveals their cloud computing solution, it seems there aren't too many choices for the Microsoft stack hosted scaling solutions, besides Mosso. I've heard Amazon can be used with a .NET app, as long as you are not running SQL Server on the back-end. Is anyone using MS SQL Server Express as the database engine for their startup?  How do people here using the Microsoft stack approach scalability issues?
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goofygrin
MSFT scalability = multiple app servers load balanced.

Here's the typical example: <http://highscalability.com/plentyoffish-
architecture>

In my experience, virtuals/slices do not scale well for app servers in the
MSFT stack.

~~~
abl
What about running the .NET app on Amazon EC2 with a mysql backend?

I am thinking of using SQL Server Express as my database for now - to take
advantage of its visual tools, and later I could port the db over to MySQL..
If I keep all the business logic in the app and limit my database code to
CRUD, trying not to use anything Transact-SQL specific, it shouldn't be too
difficult to port the db to MySQL, what do you think?

~~~
goofygrin
My experience with MySql and .NET (and this has been a while - years) has been
poor simply because the ADO.NET stuff for MySql was poor (and I have no idea
if it's changed).

I was under the impression that Amazon's cloud required the client image to be
linux?

Frankly, for smaller sites, you can get shared hosting for $10 a month that
might be sufficient (and you can grow to a $50/month slice and then a $300 a
month dedicated then to $$k for many dedicated). All prices are from
Webhost4Life.

Since running a single EC2 instance = $70 a month if left up full time, I
think there are vastly cheaper options out there.

~~~
abl
I believe MSFT improved upon this since - you can call stored procs through an
ObjectDataSource. So, as long as you have your tiers set up right, you could
just rely on CRUD in the db back-end.

You know, maybe they are using mono for .NET on Amazon..which is not the road
I want to take - too much setup, maintenance, and uncertainty.

The shared hosting comes with a drawback - most of these shared hosts are
black or white - either all linux or all windows. If I want to run php
scripts, or a C++ process, I am stuck - unless I go with a VPS or dedicated,
which brings up the cost to $50+, at which point one might as well go with
Mosso or EC2..

Btw, if anyone wants to split Mosso with me, please PM me.

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senthil_rajasek
Watch out! when you are using the MS SQL Server Express edition you are
limited by its "subscriber only" replication mode.

MS SQL Server express cannot be used as a replication master, if you are
interested in that type of architecture.

~~~
abl
Would it be easy to upgrade and scale the Express database later to a full-
blown version of SQL Server using replication if I see that my app makes money
and is worth the investment paying for a commercial SQL Server version? I
think I could probably even find a hosted SQL Server, so I wouldn't have to
pay full license fee. But I guess that prevents me from running on a dedicated
server...Thats why I am hoping I can move it over later to some scalable
solution like Mosso, and not worry about paying for the full license, only for
as much as I need depending on the traffic.

~~~
goofygrin
If you go to a hosted solution (virtuals/rackspace/shared/whatever), the
license cost of SQL is _usually_ included.

Honestly, MSFTs licensing schemes give me a huge headache.

~~~
abl
They aren't very straight-forward.. vs LAMP: free = free :) but... I like the
tools.

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bayareaguy
_I've heard Amazon can be used with a .NET app, as long as you are not running
SQL Server on the back-end._

You need to be more specific since Amazon offers many web services. There may
be .NET client applications which use Amazon S3 for storage but as far as I
know there is no good solution for running a .NET application on Amazon EC2.

If you do find any examples, please post them here.

