[JDEV] Sparse considerations about server status

[Gian Filippo Pinzari]

"jabber at msg.net" wrote:
> 
> For the record:
> 
> I have no association with Jabber.com or the Jabber Commercial Server (JCS).
[snip]
> That is my argument. If you are _serious_ about a large scale deployment,
> about using Jabber as an enterprise IM solution, then JCS must be considered
> as an option.  One service I provide to my clients is assistance in making
> these types of decisions.

Of course it was obvious to me you didn't have any association with
JCS and in any case you are completely right to suggest using a better 
implementation as you think the OSS server can't keep up with the 
requirements. Sorry if I gave the impression to blame you, I just 
wanted to understand if the short term objective for the OSS server 
is to respond to this needs or not. That's because I don't consider
this for assured. I mean, is not for given that a OSS project should
focus on scalability and reliability. It could focus instead on
features. This is absolutely acceptable. Just asking. 

> 
> I manage a number of Apache servers, but I also work with sites that have
> large deployments of Netscape Enterprise Server. I see no conflict in that.

Of course, but our task as OSS developers who have spent time and 
money to develop OSS solutions is to give people the best product. 
I don't think the idea behind MySQL or PostgresSQL is to remain a 
DB for hobbists.

> 
> Code which has already been rewritten, tested, and deployed in the JCS.

Yep.

> In my opinion, the closed-source JCS has already solved the biggest
> problems facing the open source project.  We (users and developers of
> the open source jabber server) are faced with a choice- reinvent the wheel,
> code the same solutions that JCS has chosen, or find a different path to
> the goal of a fast, stable, scalable server, such as the concept of a
> 'single user' server process as mentioned in your message.

Exactly.

> I am seldom impressed by scalability problems which are solved by throwing
> hardware at a software problem.

I am seldom impressed by scalability problems which are solved by 
throwing time at a hardware problem. I feel confortable with my 
single-threaded Apache. I feel confortable with MySQL because I
know it's slower than Oracle in certain applications but it won't 
stop working at high load, it will just get slower and slower and
slower without loosing queries. This gives me a job as a system 
designer :-).

Gian Filippo Pinzari
Medialogic - Italy