# Scalability problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 27, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745 "2009-07-27T12:38:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikeyan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745/1 "2009-07-27T12:38:59Z")
Hi, I have heard that ROR has scalability problems. I have heard that Twitter which used rails has abandoned it and is moving to PHP. Is it true? ---
**Author:** ![karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikeyan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745/2 "2009-07-27T15:11:46Z")
Twitter had a problem because they were not prepared for their popularity. From what I have heard, their scalability issues stem mainly from an improper database schema. They are also NOT moving to PHP. The last I’ve heard, they were changing their backend over to Scala, which is a functional language that runs on the JavaVM. Here is a good article about the ‘scalability’ issue: [http://work.tinou.com/2009/06/scalas-dirty-little-secret-to-scalability.html](http://work.tinou.com/2009/06/scalas-dirty-little-secret-to-scalability.html) From everything I’ve heard, Rails has scalability issues if you don’t put some thought into the application building process. On the Ruby side on things, RubyEE is said to have some benefits for speeding up Ruby execution. ---
**Author:** ![karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikeyan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745/3 "2009-07-27T15:17:02Z")
On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 10:10 AM, p\_W[removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Twitter had a problem because they were not prepared for their > popularity. From what I have heard, their scalability issues stem > mainly from an improper database schema. Their main scalability issue was the messaging system they wrote in Ruby to control the application backend and this is the part of their infrastructure that got replaced by a Scala equivalent. High end messaging systems in Ruby are still years away from the ones you can find in Java. - Maurício Linhares [http://codeshooter.wordpress.com/](http://codeshooter.wordpress.com/) | [http://twitter.com/mauriciojr](http://twitter.com/mauriciojr) ---
**Author:** ![karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikeyan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745/4 "2009-07-27T15:29:08Z")
Karthikeyan wrote: > Hi, > > I have heard that ROR has scalability problems. I have heard that > Twitter which used rails has abandoned it and is moving to PHP. Is it > true? AFAIK this forum was created for Rails developers to help other Rails developers with problems. So if you’re looking for help on how to scale Rails, maybe starting off with such a negative comment isn’t really in your best interest. A couple of corrections though: Last I heard Twitter was implementing, at least, some parts of their site using Scala. I’ve not heard anything about them using PHP. Also, Twitter is just one example, and not a very good one at that. Let’s not forget that there are many sites using Rails successfully, and I’d wager that a good number of those are handling a lot more traffic than anything you’ll be building. If you’re truly interested in how to scale Rails applications, rather than trying to insult the people you’re hoping to get help from, you might enjoy this series sponsored by New Relic: [http://railslab.newrelic.com/scaling-rails](http://railslab.newrelic.com/scaling-rails) ---
**Author:** ![karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikeyan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745/5 "2009-07-27T16:24:06Z")
Conrad T. wrote: > > If you’re truly interested in how to scale Rails applications, rather > > than trying to insult the people you’re hoping to get help from, you > > might enjoy this series sponsored by New Relic: > > > > [http://railslab.newrelic.com/scaling-rails](http://railslab.newrelic.com/scaling-rails) > > Actually, one would use New Relic to monitor to Rails application Actually, I was referring to (see link) the excellent screencast series hosted by Greg Pollack, which was sponsored by New Relic. I was not referring to the New Relic monitoring solutions. ---
**Author:** ![karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikeyan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745/6 "2009-07-27T15:58:37Z")
On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 6:29 AM, Robert W. \< removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid\> wrote: > Rails, maybe starting off with such a negative comment isn’t really in > your best interest. > > A couple of corrections though: Last I heard Twitter was implementing, > at least, some parts of their site using Scala. I’ve not heard anything > about them using PHP. Also, Twitter is just one example, and not a very > good one at that. Let’s not forget that there are many sites using Rails > successfully, and I’d wager that a good number of those are handling a > lot more traffic than anything you’ll be building. I agree with you 100% because [Hulu.com](http://Hulu.com) and [Shopify.com](http://Shopify.com) are built on Ruby on Rails to name a few. Furthermore, the Ruby VMs are getting much better than MRI with JRuby and forthcoming VMs: Maglev and MacRuby. In time, we will get there. -Conrad > If you’re truly interested in how to scale Rails applications, rather > than trying to insult the people you’re hoping to get help from, you > might enjoy this series sponsored by New Relic: > > [http://railslab.newrelic.com/scaling-rails](http://railslab.newrelic.com/scaling-rails) Actually, one would use New Relic to monitor to Rails application ---
**Author:** ![karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikeyan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745/7 "2009-07-29T17:02:12Z")
Why on earth should I insult people who are helping me with rails? I did hear Twitter speak against rials and hence I asked this query. Any way if you do feel insulted, so be it. Its your brain and I don’t have control of it. On Jul 27, 6:29 pm, Robert W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikeyan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745/8 "2009-07-29T18:30:54Z")
Karthikeyan wrote: > Why on earth should I insult people who are helping me with rails? I > did hear Twitter speak against rials and hence I asked this query. Any > way if you do feel insulted, so be it. Its your brain and I don’t have > control of it. > > On Jul 27, 6:29�pm, Robert W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Maybe “insult” was too strong a word, but all I meant by that was that your post could have just as easily been framed from a positive, rather than negative, perspective. Rather and titling the post “Scalability problem” maybe “Resources for scaling applications using Rails.” And, rather than point out an, obviously, sore spot with implications such as “Twitter threw out Rails because it can’t scale.” Maybe ask about what sites are successfully scaling Rails applications and how they are doing it. ---
**Author:** ![karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@karthikeyan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/karthikeyan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/scalability-problem/172745/9 "2009-08-10T18:08:46Z")
Next time I have a question, I will mail you, you re phrase it and put it up on this group. On Jul 29, 9:30 pm, Robert W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)