Martin Abbott - Scalability Rules: 50 Principles for Scaling Web Sites

50 Principles for Scaling Web Sites

Martin L. Abbott
Michael T. Fisher

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Abbott, Martin L.
Scalability rules : 50 principles for scaling Web sites
/ Martin L. Abbott, Michael T. Fisher.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-321-75388-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN
(invalid) 01321753887 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1.
Computer networksScalability. 2. Web sites
Security measures. I. Fisher, Michael T. II. Title.
TK5105.59.A23 2011
006.7dc22
2011006257

Copyright 2011 AKF Consulting Inc.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-321-75388-5

ISBN-10: 0-321-75388-7

Text printed in the United States on recycled paper at R.R. Donnelley in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

First printing May 2011

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This book is dedicated to our friend and partner Big Tom Keeven. Big refers to the impact hes had in helping countless companies scale in his nearly 30 years in the business.

Once again, Abbott and Fisher provide a book that Ill be giving to our engineers. Its an essential read for anyone dealing with scaling an online business.

Chris Lalonde , VP, Technical Operations and Infrastructure Architecture, Bullhorn

Abbott and Fisher again tackle the difficult problem of scalability in their unique and practical manner. Distilling the challenges of operating a fast-growing presence on the Internet into 50 easy-to-understand rules, the authors provide a modern cookbook of scalability recipes that guide the reader through the difficulties of fast growth.

Geoffrey Weber , Vice President, Internet Operations, Shutterfly

Abbott and Fisher have distilled years of wisdom into a set of cogent principles to avoid many nonobvious mistakes.

Jonathan Heiliger , VP, Technical Operations, Facebook

In The Art of Scalability, the AKF team taught us that scale is not just a technology challenge. Scale is obtained only through a combination of people, process, and technology. With Scalability Rules, Martin Abbott and Michael Fisher fill our scalability toolbox with easily implemented and time-tested rules that once applied will enable massive scale.

Jerome Labat , VP, Product Development IT, Intuit

When I joined Etsy, I partnered with Mike and Marty to hit the ground running in my new role, and it was one of the best investments of time I have made in my career. The indispensable advice from my experience working with Mike and Marty is fully captured here in this book. Whether youre taking on a role as a technology leader in a new company or you simply want to make great technology decisions, Scalability Rules will be the go-to resource on your bookshelf.

Chad Dickerson , CTO, Etsy

Scalability Rules provides an essential set of practical tools and concepts anyone can use when designing, upgrading, or inheriting a technology platform. Its very easy to focus on an immediate problem and overlook issues that will appear in the future. This book ensures strategic design principles are applied to everyday challenges.

Robert Guild , Director and Senior Architect, Financial Services

An insightful, practical guide to designing and building scalable systems. A must-read for both product building and operations teams, this book offers concise and crisp insights gained from years of practical experience of AKF principals. With the complexity of modern systems, scalability considerations should be an integral part of the architecture and implementation process. Scaling systems for hypergrowth requires an agile, iterative approach that is closely aligned with product features; this book shows you how.

Nanda Kishore , Chief Technology Officer, ShareThis

For organizations looking to scale technology, people, and processes rapidly or effectively, the twin pairing of Scalability Rules and The Art of Scalability are unbeatable. The rules-driven approach in Scalability Rules makes this not only an easy reference companion, but also allows organizations to tailor the Abbott and Fisher approach to their specific needs both immediately and in the future!

Jeremy Wright , CEO, BNOTIONS.ca and Founder, b5media

Thanks for your interest in Scalability Rules! This book is meant to serve as a primer, a refresher, and a lightweight reference manual to help engineers, architects, and managers develop and maintain scalable Internet products. It is laid out in a series of rules, each of them bundled thematically by different topics. Most of the rules are technically focused, while a smaller number of them address some critical mindset or process concerneach of which is absolutely critical to building scalable products. The rules vary in their depth and focus. Some rules are high level, such as defining a model that can be applied to nearly any scalability problem, while others are specific and may explain a technique, such as how to modify headers to maximize the cache-ability of content.