[thelist] Experience and server architecture for .NET

Ken Schaefer ken at adOpenStatic.com
Thu Jan 30 17:34:04 CST 2003


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: <JSchell at doeanderson.com>
Subject: [thelist] Experience and server architecture for .NET


:
: My boss is now on the .NET bandwagon and wants to have everything we've
: done converted to .NET.  Keep in my this is more of a politician than a
: technical person.
:
: Would anyone who is using .NET now share their experiences on the
: following?  We're currently evaluating VB.NET and C# as our building
: languages for ASP.NET.
:
: 1. Real world architecture and configuration for server(s).  i.e.
processor
: speed/memory, standalone db,mail, IIS servers versus shared systems.
Based
: upon this architecture what is your server load versus reliability.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Load -vs- reliability? I've found that splitting the load increases
reliability :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: How many sites/load can you support on one/two/three
: machines, realistically?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, it really does depend on what you're doing. For any decent machine
(we're using a P3 866 MHz with 1 GB of RAM as the web server) you will find
that the ASP.Net pages will run significantly faster than the ASP
equivalent, provided that the pages have already been "touched" once (ie
invoking the dynamic compilation process). If you have websites that are
used very rarely, then the compiled pages may fall out of the cache, and the
site will appear to run quite slowly. There are tools that will get around
this problem (by hitting all your pages to force a compilation), and v2 of
ASP.Net will handle this for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: 2. Security issues encountered with .NET
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No intrinsic security problems. You still have SQL injection/XSS type
threats inherent in web applications. I seriously suggest you download this
book from Microsoft (it's free). It's 600 pages on building secure
applications with ASP.Net:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnnetsec/ht
ml/secnetlpMSDN.asp?frame=true

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: 3. Available support
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What type of support? Peer developer support? Try: www.asp.net/forums/
www.aspadvice.com http://p2p.wrox.com and http://discuss.develop.com/ in
addition to the MS Newsgroups.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: 4. Have you dealt with multiple developers using the same Visual Studio
: project files across a network.  What has been the pros/cons of it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I suggest you read:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnbda/html/
tdlg_rm.asp
Team Development with Visual Studio.Net and Visual Source Safe
Each developer would work in a fully isolated environment, after checking
out applicable files from VSS (or 3rd party source control system). The
Project Manager would be responsible for release builds.

Check out www.aspadvice.com and www.asp.net/forums. The first has an email
list that discusses architechural issues, and the latter has a web-based
forum on the same topic. For MS info, check out the architecture centre:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/architecture/default.aspx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: 5. How difficult of a transition has it been for developers who have PERL,
: ASP, CF and iHTML experience to learn the nuances of .NET?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- If they do not have any programming experience/knowledge (particularly OO)
then the learning curve is bigger. Also, things are more verbose, and more
robust in ASP.Net. People who are used to writing really crappy web-apps
(because they don't know any better) full of spaghetti logic, will find it
harder. Otherwise, I've found the transition relatively easy. It's just a
matter of getting your head around the huge base class library.

If you have people who need a refresher on programming concepts, get the
VB.Net Class Design Handbook from Wrox Press. It's small, cheap and well
worth the money.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: 6. What has been the pros and cons of VB.NET versus C#?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you are using Visual Studio.Net, then C# has XML Commenting, which is a
big plus (there are 3rd party, free, tools apparently that do the same
thing). Performance wise there is no measurable difference as the code is
compiled down to (99% of the time) the same intermediate language (IL),
since all the .Net compliant languages are required to use the same base
types.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: 7. What resources online are available to address these real world
: questions?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out the sites I posted earlier, and signup for some of the email
lists.

Other excellent sites for finding more information would include
http://www.dotnet247.com which is a bit like a meta-directory of .Net
information, www.asp.net and www.gotdotnet.com and
http://msdn.microsoft.com/architecture/

Cheers
Ken




More information about the thelist mailing list