Advice about mod_perl vs. fastcgi (specific)

[Todd Federman <gd...@zdnetmail.com>]

I'm not trying to start a debate; I've already read a lot of mod_perl
vs. fastcgi advocacy threads, but I have a specific question or two I
haven't been able to find answered anywhere yet.

I have to do a large, heavily dynamic web site in Perl. It is a 
requirement that dynamic content generation (database access, xml
parsing, etc.) take place on a separate cluster of servers from the web
servers. So, based on my understanding of mod_perl, it doesn't meet the
requirement. I suggested that we put heavily dynamic content on one
cluster with Apache/mod_perl servers and static content on another
cluster just running Apache, but even the mod_perl_tuning doc suggests
that this is suboptimal for a heavily dynamic site. (Maybe it's not?)

So, my main question: Is there a way to use mod_perl with remote
execution, or at that point is it just silly not to go with fastcgi?
My
only reservations about fastcgi are that mod_perl has a greater
development community and module availability. I'd like to use
HTML::Mason, for example, but don't know how it will run in a fastcgi
environment. I suspect it will run, but its doc states that it "works
best in conjunction with Apache and mod_perl." I don't want to be
trapped in an environment that will be less widely supported or
developed for.

Should I not be worrying about these issues with fastcgi? Is there a
mod_perl solution that will meet our requirements? Thanks for any
help...

tf


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Re: Advice about mod_perl vs. fastcgi (specific)

[Vivek Khera <kh...@kciLink.com>]

>>>>> "TF" == Todd Federman <gd...@zdnetmail.com> writes:

TF> cluster with Apache/mod_perl servers and static content on another
TF> cluster just running Apache, but even the mod_perl_tuning doc suggests
TF> that this is suboptimal for a heavily dynamic site. (Maybe it's not?)

Having your images on a separate server will save you a lot.  If you
only send the dynamic content requests to your mod_perl server, then
you have minimized the amount of resource you require.

Read further into the tuning docs about using a proxy front-end
server.  This makes it mostly transparent to your users and developers
where the real content comes from.  I currently prefer the mod_proxy
front end solution.  This lets my non-perl apache handle images and
traditional CGI's and other static content, and lets the back-end
mod_perl server handle the dynamic page requests (every page is
dynamic on one of our servers.)

-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Vivek Khera, Ph.D.                Khera Communications, Inc.
Internet: khera@kciLink.com       Rockville, MD       +1-301-545-6996
GPG & MIME spoken here            http://www.khera.org/~vivek/

Re: Advice about mod_perl vs. fastcgi (specific)

[David Hodgkinson <da...@hodgkinson.org>]

Perrin Harkins <pe...@primenet.com> writes:

> On Thu, 22 Jun 2000, Todd Federman wrote:
> 
> > So, my main question: Is there a way to use mod_perl with remote
> > execution, or at that point is it just silly not to go with fastcgi?
> 
> Not sure how you missed it, but go and read the discussion of using a
> reverse proxy with mod_perl in the guide or the many list postings on the
> subject.  This is a very common strategy with mod_perl which many of the
> high-volume sites use.

...and call it an "application server" ;-)


-- 
Dave Hodgkinson,                             http://www.hodgkinson.org
Editor-in-chief, The Highway Star           http://www.deep-purple.com
      Apache, mod_perl, MySQL, Sybase hired gun for, well, hire
  -----------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Advice about mod_perl vs. fastcgi (specific)

[Perrin Harkins <pe...@primenet.com>]

On Thu, 22 Jun 2000, Todd Federman wrote:

> So, my main question: Is there a way to use mod_perl with remote
> execution, or at that point is it just silly not to go with fastcgi?

Not sure how you missed it, but go and read the discussion of using a
reverse proxy with mod_perl in the guide or the many list postings on the
subject.  This is a very common strategy with mod_perl which many of the
high-volume sites use.