RE: Why people not using mod_perl

["Ihnen, David" <di...@amazon.com>]

My first response is, “What makes you think they don’t?”

But I must point out that at the scale that Amazon runs at, the technology used for front end web page rendering – as critical as it is – not what runs Amazon.

Can you run service calls to caches and systems from a mason-based mod_perl interface?

Load Amazon.com to find out.

Does that mean its running on mod_perl?

Debatable.

There are so many systems that are loosely coupled – they respond to, accept data from, and otherwise interact with the web site end of the system – but they’re java and c++ as well as perl – and THOSE – in my opinion at least – are ‘what amazon runs on’.

And when you’re talking about what amazon runs on - these ‘back end’ type systems (those which are not specifically involved in the rendering of a page for display via http) mod_perl is of course *not* what they use, because – even if they ARE written in perl – they don’t work in that particular paradigm.

So is ‘what you run on’ defined by your web server page view controller software – or the software that actually runs the heart your business and processes?  Hmm.  Does Coca-Cola run on a factory, or on a delivery truck?

David

From: Brad Van Sickle [mailto:bvs7085@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:32 PM
To: mod_perl list
Subject: Re: Why people not using mod_perl

But I'm very interested to know at what point (if any) a site/app grows too large or too complex for mod_perl and what defines that turning point.   Could Amazon run on mod_perl for example?

Re: Why people not using mod_perl

[William T <di...@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 4:06 PM, Ihnen, David <di...@amazon.com> wrote:
>
> But I'm very interested to know at what point (if any) a site/app grows too
> large or too complex for mod_perl and what defines that turning point.
> Could Amazon run on mod_perl for example?

To me mod_perl is just a platform like most other web stacks.  As such
ANY webapp written with ANY webstack that is designed and built for
efficient horizontal scaling can be used.  Take into account how to
make the best use of a CDN, how to distribute database  load (probably
by partioning).

-wjt