Scaling n-tier system

[DKode]

Hello,

I am starting to plan a portal site that will eventually (hopefully)
increase exponetianlly in the amount of traffic to the site. I am
planning to do this in a 3-tier/4-tier layout, I'm just wondering of
any design considerations before I embark.

One thing I was thinking of is originally all tiers will reside on one
physical system, eventually the tiers will be seperated. Initially do I

want to create web services for each of the tiers? Or would I do that
when I am moving the tiers to additional systems. I guess my main
concern here is, how do I design the app so I can easily switch a layer

from non-webservice to a webservice without too many headaches. Maybe I

am thinking too much about the problem, but I am trying to get a full
lay of the land before I begin.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you

DKode

[Radek Cerny]

I guess it depends on how/who will be maintaining the layers. Web Services
are great for public-facing services; any internal/performance related
partitioning that has no external dependencies does not require Web
Services. If several parties, esp external, will be maintaining the layers,
then WS is a good idea. Also useful in testing. Otherwise, remoting or
other means should work fine.
"DKode" <dk****@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:11**********************@g49g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

Hello,

I am starting to plan a portal site that will eventually (hopefully)
increase exponetianlly in the amount of traffic to the site. I am
planning to do this in a 3-tier/4-tier layout, I'm just wondering of
any design considerations before I embark.

One thing I was thinking of is originally all tiers will reside on one
physical system, eventually the tiers will be seperated. Initially do I

want to create web services for each of the tiers? Or would I do that
when I am moving the tiers to additional systems. I guess my main
concern here is, how do I design the app so I can easily switch a layer

from non-webservice to a webservice without too many headaches. Maybe I

am thinking too much about the problem, but I am trying to get a full
lay of the land before I begin.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you

DKode