[IRCServices] Scalability

[Uziel]

In my opinion the problem that is being ignored is the ability of services 
to act concurrently on data.  Currently all access is serial in nature as 
far as I understand it.  This is by far the largest factor which limits the 
scalability of Services.  The use of an existing database product for 
storage is one possible way to make Services **closer** to a product which 
can act on two separate pieces of information at the same time.
I don't claim to have any hard stats on the number of concurrent requests 
that specific SQL products can handle at one time, but if the answer is 
more than one -- which it is -- then we're closer to being better off than 
we were before.  But the key word there is **closer**.  A single change 
here or there isn't going to solve this problem.

The fundamental question one has to ask is what size network is Services 
meant for?  If the answer is less than 2000 concurrent users than the 
system that is in place seems to hold up well on a fast machine.  If the 
intent is to let it scale to orders of magnitude greater than 2000, then a 
fundamental change has to take place within the code.  There will always be 
a place for a lightweight services product.  If this codebase aims to stay 
in that niche than so be it.  The conversation of late just seems to be 
advocating a piecemeal improvement scheme that wouldn't really solve the 
scalability problem, while simply adding complexity to the codebase.

Pick one and go with it :)  There's no use adding a bunch of bells and 
whistles using the newest, coolest, most marketing friendly phrases if the 
end result is the same thing you started with -- only with code that is 
harder to understand and update.

Uziel (uziel at ingsoc.com)

--I caught sight of my reflection
	I caught it in the window
   I saw the darkness in my heart
	I saw the signs of my undoing
   They had been there from the start
	And the darkness still has work to do
     The knotted chord's untying


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