I was reading through these questions:
Scaling Orchard with Azure Web Sites
How to deploy Orchard CMS in Windows Azure?
I started to think about an e-commerce project I am undertaking and would like to clarify a few things if possible.
Please forgive me because I am finding it very difficult to articulate this question in a way I feel I have clearly communicated what I am thinking.
Firstly, what factors and when would those factors kick in for me to start thinking about scaling to handle the traffic of my web site. The type of factors I am aware of would include:
- Session handling
- Caching
- I am thinking the amount of data being served in a request but not sure on the full implications of request size
Secondly, with all things there should be a certain level of up-front planning when trying to set up a web site that can handle traffic of certain levels. Would the Azure scaling need to be done upfront or is it a simple matter to make it work now for what is needed and then up-scale at a later date when it is necessary?
Let me give a real life scenario to try aid where my fear is:
A radio broadcast was put out for a certain web site trying to sell their wares. The web site was not planned very well. The web site started to receive visits from people listening to the radio show. So many visitors that the web site was not able to handle the traffic and an error message was displayed telling the world that they should 'talk to the administrator' or words to that effect. You know the picture I am sure and I am also very certain it would be embarrassing for any web developer to be told that this was happening to a web site they had designed.
I would really like to really be able to distil a proper question out of this, but there are many things that I am just not aware of. To try an make this question less vague I will try to summarise what I would like to achieve:
I want to have a web site that is able to handle a lot of traffic following successful advertising/marketing campaigns. I want to walk the tightrope of budget versus functionality, which is why I would like to be able to do the least amount possible to start with and be able to easily up-scale as demand dictates.
Bearing this in mind, what approach/considerations should I take to avoid nasty pitfalls with performance/availability/reliability when using an Orchard CMS/Azure combination to deliver my project?
