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Sports betting events also have the effect of
crowding all the business within condensed time windows.
This level of hosting goes far beyond the
simple provision of bandwidth and the quality of the server matters not only in
terms of its CPU's processing abilities, quantity of RAM and hard disk space but
also the durability of its components, the power supply available and the
ability of fan/s to disperse the heat generated by a server running 24/7 under
possibly very heavy loads.
With an application designed for use internally
within a company, one can always put a cap on the maximum number of people that
could be using the application. With the internet this number can be
unpredictable, or if measurable through registration, can grow large very
quickly. The internet is a new operating regime, not only in terms of the
security issues it presents but also in the scale of operations, and this
requires a new way of thinking when designing applications and the hardware
architectures that host them.
The traditional approach is to scale up
vertically, increasing the bandwidth, CPU/s' speeds, memory and so forth. There
is a limit, however, to how far this can be taken and with so much depending on
such a concentration of resources, a failure is nothing less than catastrophic.
The answer is to achieve scalability horizontally with a distributed
architecture. This architecture not only allows increased scalability, but also
creates reliance to faults and failures within the system. What's more, this
model is inherently suitable to most operations and services offered over the
internet which are in themselves quite simple, but that there is just too many
of them.
This situation is akin to how humans organize
themselves to accomplish very large workloads; there comes a time when one
person, no matter how hardworking and clever will not be able to cope. At that
stage the tasks will be split among many people doing exactly the same task and
yet coordinating their activities. Imagine if you will, people flooding into the
premises of a bank or payment office. Many cashiers wait in booths doing exactly
the same job, overseen by managers and perhaps a helper guiding the queues. The
architecture and layout of the building hosting these activities, is itself
designed to allow a smooth flow of people.
Hosting a distributed architecture is more
complex then a traditional centralized system where everything happens in one
place. Parallel events need to be coordinated so that they work as a seamless
whole and transactional control assumes a critical role. Hardware setup and
middleware software need to be designed much in the same way as a purpose-built
building, and layers of middle management in the organization would be in place
for a human organization. The applications themselves should be aware that they
are running in a distributed environment and be able to both benefit and not
obstruct this environment.
The key to a successful internet presence stems
from both an understanding of the nature of the internet and the tools that are
now available to build up this success. The internet has indeed come a long way.
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