Frank Sommers discusses an idea presented by Robert McIntosh about building a high volume application without a RDBMS. The idea itself is not new, I have seen references to scalability problems converging towards the database. But the details with which Robert McIntosh tries to achieve some advantages of the database, like indexing, through other options are engaging. [Continue]

Frank Sommers explains why scaling is not only about architecture. Using ebay as a case study he says The most amazing aspect of this evolution to me is not necessarily the technical brilliance of the solutions at each architecture stage, but the fact that eBay was able to meet the challenges of its growth with subsequent refinements to its system, all the while keeping the site operational. Usually architecture is credited or blamed for scalability or lack of it. [Continue]