Theo Schlossnagle is a principal at OmniTI Computer Consulting, where he provides

expert consulting services related to scalable internet architectures, database replication,

and email infrastructure. He is the creator of the Backhand Project and the Ecelerity

MTA, and spends most of his time solving the scalability problems that arise in

high-performance and highly distributed systems.

 

Customer Reviews & Comments
This is the type of technical book that comes alone all to infrequently. Instead of giving "cookbook" recipes that are inapplicable to the majority of real-world environment, this book discusses how to apply techniques (not recipes) to increase the flexibility (and hence scalability) of your infrastructure. This author obviously has in-depth knowledge of real-work production environments and the unnecessary risks that companies expose their infrastructures to. For example, from my own experience it is pitiful how rampant the concept of HA is confused with load balancing! I have seen CIOs of Fortune 500 companies tout their "risk-free" scalable environment implemented with load balancing. When I explain to them that HA has nothing to do with load balancing, and to insure a high availability infrastructure they need to revamp their architecture, they look at me suspiciously as if I'm trying to squeeze money out of them. When I ask to speak to the Director of Operations and pointedly ask how HA is implemented, and get a response alone the lines of "we have redundant load balancers fronting redundant servers" I know I'm dealing with yet another instance of a gross misunderstanding of HA. When I point out the multiple single points of failure, I'm treated as an adversary intent on discrediting the technical staff! This book reveals the fallacy of such an approach. The author also discusses elements of a robust HA environment that others book only touch on if not completely ignore. For example, revision control and business continuity among other often overlooked processes. All in all an interesting read that will open your eyes to what is truly a misunderstood topic. The books handling of scalability, including a discussion of "scaling-down" (or scaling back), is first rate as well. Comment | Permalink | (Report this)