20 Obstacles to Scalability

Web applications can grow in fits and starts. Customer numbers can increase rapidly, and application usage patterns can vary seasonally. This unpredictability necessitates an application that is scalable. What is the best way of achieving scalability?

This investigation reveals 20 of the biggest bottlenecks that reduce and slow down scalability. By ferreting these out in your environment and applications, and stamping out the worst offenders, you will be on your way to hyper-growth.

10 OBSTACLES TO SCALING PERFORMANCE

1. TWO-PHASE COMMIT 
2. INSUFFICIENT CACHING 
3. SLOW DISK I/O, RAID 5, MULTITENANT STORAGE 
4. SERIAL PROCESSING 
5. MISSING FEATURE FLAGS 
6. SINGLE COPY OF THE DATABASE 
7. USING YOUR DATABASE FOR QUEUING 
8. USING A DATABASE FOR FULL-TEXT SEARCHING 
9. OBJECT RELATIONAL MODELS 
10. MISSING INSTRUMENTATION

10 OBSTACLES TO SCALING BEYOND OPTIMIZATION SPEED

1. LACK OF A CODE REPOSITORY AND VERSION CONTROL 
2. SINGLE POINTS OF FAILURE 
3. LACK OF BROWSE-ONLY MODE 
4. WEAK COMMUNICATION 
5. LACK OF DOCUMENTATION 
6. LACK OF FIRE DRILLS 
7. INSUFFICIENT MONITORING AND METRICS 
8. COWBOY OPERATIONS 
9. GROWING TECHNICAL DEBT 
10. INSUFFICIENT LOGGING

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