# Performance and scalability **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [December 22, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-and-scalability/50898 "2005-12-22T13:56:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Edward_Granville)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-and-scalability/50898/1 "2005-12-22T13:56:11Z")
Hi, My question is. What are your performance experiences compared to languages such as PHP, PERL and ASP? Could you build a site as big as Ebay on rails and have it perform fast enough? I’m afraid that the generalisation in components I see so much users asking for will make the framework too heavy compared to a clean programmed for perfomance PHP application. Probably even written if in Ruby itself. Thanks, Edward ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Edward_Granville)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-and-scalability/50898/2 "2005-12-22T18:01:32Z")
> Could you build a site as big as Ebay on rails and have it perform fast > enough? You could build any size site with any platform. The only question is what would it cost. I believe Rails is an immensely scalable platform by virtue of Shared Nothing. And since Shared Nothing is an approach to scaling used by most of the LAMP stacks, you don’t need to look at Rails-specific sites for scalability advice. Look at LiveJournal, Yahoo, or any of the other big honking sites that runs the LAMP stack with Shared Nothing approaches. If they scale, Rails scales. ## For further proof, see [http://rubyonrails.org/applications](http://rubyonrails.org/applications). Lots of these applications are handling more than a million (if not millions) page request daily now. David Heinemeier H. [http://www.loudthinking.com](http://www.loudthinking.com) – Broadcasting Brain [http://www.basecamphq.com](http://www.basecamphq.com) – Online project management [http://www.backpackit.com](http://www.backpackit.com) – Personal information manager [http://www.rubyonrails.com](http://www.rubyonrails.com) – Web-application framework ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Edward_Granville)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-and-scalability/50898/3 "2005-12-22T18:53:27Z")
> Could you build a site as big as Ebay on rails and have it perform fast > enough? This sort of question gets asked all the time: “as big as ebay? as big as amazon? google?” It betrays a lack of understanding as to just how big and complicated the architecture of those sites are. Ask anyone that has actually worked on one of thos sites – scalability of that magnitude happens with many different sub-systems tied together in complicated ways. The LJ powerpoint that describes the evolution of their architecture is a good starting point to understand how you reach that kind of massive scaling. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Edward_Granville)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-and-scalability/50898/4 "2005-12-22T19:56:30Z")
On 12/22/05, Tyler K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Could you provide more info on the powerpoint you referenced? I don’t know what > LJ stands for and a quick search didn’t reveal anything obvious. LiveJournal ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Edward_Granville)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-and-scalability/50898/5 "2005-12-22T19:50:28Z")
Obie F. \ writes: > The LJ powerpoint that describes the evolution of their architecture > is a good starting point to understand how you reach that kind of > massive scaling. Could you provide more info on the powerpoint you referenced? I don’t know what LJ stands for and a quick search didn’t reveal anything obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Edward_Granville)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-and-scalability/50898/6 "2005-12-22T20:56:46Z")
On 12/22/05, Obie F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > The LJ powerpoint that describes the evolution of their architecture > is a good starting point to understand how you reach that kind of > massive scaling. This is the presentation you’re talking about, right Obie? [http://danga.com/words/2004\_lisa/](http://danga.com/words/2004_lisa/) ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Edward\_Granville](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Edward_Granville)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/performance-and-scalability/50898/7 "2005-12-22T21:11:48Z")
On 12/22/05, Wilson B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > The LJ powerpoint that describes the evolution of their architecture > > is a good starting point to understand how you reach that kind of > > massive scaling. > > This is the presentation you’re talking about, right Obie? > [http://danga.com/words/2004\_lisa/](http://danga.com/words/2004_lisa/) Replying to myself… you probably meant the newer one… > **[oscon-2005.pdf](https://danga.com/words/2005_oscon/oscon-2005.pdf)** > > 484.91 KB