Problems
This article is a lightly edited version of 20 Obstacles to Scalability by Sean Hull (with permission) from the always excellent and thought provoking ACM Queue. 1. TWO-PHASE COMMIT Normally when data is changed in a database, it is written both to memory and to disk. When a commit happens,
Strategy
Like a digital SWAT team that implodes the wrong door on a raid, the FBI seized multiple racks of computers from DigitalOne, these racks host websites from many clients that just happened to be in the same racks as whomever they are investigating. Downed sites include Instapaper, Curbed Network, and
Strategy
A thoughtful reader recently suggested creating a series of posts based on real-life problems people have experienced and the solutions they've created to slay the little beasties. It's a great idea. Often we learn best from great trials and tribulations. I'll start off the
Problems
Skype's 220 millions users lost service for a stunning two days. The primary cause for Skype's nightmare (can you imagine the beeper storm that went off?) was a massive global roll-out of a Window's patch triggering the simultaneous reboot of millions of machines across