Ask HN: Scalability and .NET stack

goofygrin · on June 13, 2008

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 · on June 13, 2008

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 · on June 13, 2008

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 · on June 13, 2008

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.

senthil_rajasek · on June 13, 2008

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 · on June 13, 2008

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 · on June 13, 2008

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 · on June 13, 2008

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

bayareaguy · on June 14, 2008

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.