Chapter 7. Network Scalability
Network scalability is concerned with structuring an application in such a way that as more demands are placed on the application, it can adjust to handle the stress. Demands can come in the form of more users, an increased number of requests, more complicated requests, and changes in network characteristics.
There are several areas of concern listed as follows:
- Server capacity
- Multiple threads
- Network bandwidth and latency
- Execution environment
Scalability can be achieved by adding more servers, using an appropriate number of threads, improving the performance of the execution environment, and increasing the network bandwidth to eliminate bottlenecks.
Adding more servers will help by enabling load balancing between servers. However, if the network bandwidth or latency is the issue, then this will not help much. There is only so much that can be pushed through a network pipe.
Threads are frequently used to improve the performance of a system. Using an appropriate...
