Then as a commercial venture, employ someone to create that functionality for you if you can't or won't yourself. Or experiment with the already available redirection handler which seems to do a fine job of replacing the mod_rewrite functionality.
On Oct 22, 2010, at 11:11, Marcus Don <[email protected]> wrote: > What it does is allow non-developers to install thousands of applications > into a shared hosting account without the need for them to employ a > developer. It’s not a question of functionality, it’s a matter of commercial > necessity. > > Marcus > > > Am I missing something? What does mod_rewrite do that the redirection handler > doesn't do? > > I think your approach may be a little off: no one is here to develop software > for you regardless of how many perspective servers you want to use it with. > That should be irrelevant to the discussion. > > On Oct 22, 2010, at 10:32, Marcus Don <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Tony > > Thanks for your feedback. > > We’ve already invested a considerable amount in developing this software, so > I doubt I could secure more funding to adapt it to another platform. Even if > I could, there is no commercial case for us to continue funding the ongoing > development and maintenance when we can use Apache for free. So, by providing > such as significant head-start, I was hoping I could drum up enough support > among the existing Cherokee developers. > > Regards > > Marcus > > > > I am sure everyone wants to see Cherokee use grow. However, volunteer > developers can only do so much. They still have to earn a living. If you > are going to use it on that scale, which is great, why not put some money on > the table as an investment for you and the community. Even if it is not what > you would pay a contractor, volunteers might be much more motivated. You > would still be benefiting from the incredible amount of work that has already > gone into Cherokee. Also, if use grows worldwide, you would benefit in the > long run if other commercial companies decided to begin to deploy it and > contribute back code. > > Just my two cents. > > Tony Zakula > > > > On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 3:54 AM, Marcus Don <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: > Since I've had virtually no response to my email below, I'll try again in > far fewer words. > > I'm interested in using Cherokee to host around 50,000 sites and 600,000 > domains, with the potential to extend this to 600,000 sites and 1.6 million > domains. > > Unfortunately, our customers want mod_rewrite, which Cherokee doesn't > currently support. However, we own the source code for a mod_rewrite > equivalent, which we are willing to donate to Cherokee if enough people are > interested. > > If you are interested in the possibility of Cherokee becoming a serious > alternative to Apache for commercial, mass hosting, please let me know. > > Thanks > > Marcus > > > > Hi > > > > Apologies in advance for the length of this email, please bear with me :) > > > > First an introduction: I'm senior manager of R&D for a group of ISPs > > including > > register.it <http://register.it> <http://register.it <http://register.it> > > > , names.co.uk <http://names.co.uk> <http://names.co.uk > > <http://names.co.uk> > , nominalia.es <http://nominalia.es> > > <http://nominalia.es <http://nominalia.es> > , amen.fr <http://amen.fr> > > <http://amen.fr <http://amen.fr> > , register365.com > > <http://register365.com> <http://register365.com <http://register365.com> > > > , and > > simplyhosting.com <http://simplyhosting.com> <http://simplyhosting.com > > <http://simplyhosting.com> > . As a group, we host over 1.6 million domains > > and 600,000 > > web sites. > > > > Currently, we have 3 shared hosting clusters in Italy, the UK and Ireland. > > The > > Italian platform is based on Apache and the UK and Irish platforms are based > > on Zeus Web Server. We also have a legacy platform, inherited from a recent > > acquisition, based on Apache and H-Sphere, which we are currently migrating > > to > > Zeus. > > > > Until recently, we have been very happy with our choice of Zeus Web Server. > > We > > have gained a solid reputation in the UK for having a very high-performing > > and > > reliable platform, and we have won the UK ISP Award (ISPA) for Best Shared > > Hosting for the last 3 years running. However, we are now considering > > migrating away from ZWS for the following reasons: > > > > 1) It hasn't been updated since 2007, and Zeus will not commit to any future > > updates other than security patches. > > 2) It makes commercial sense for us to use the same technology everywhere in > > the group. > > 3) Zeus does not support mod_rewrite. > > > > Given these requirements, and the fact we are already using it in Italy, the > > obvious solution would be to use Apache on all platforms. However, I am > > seriously concerned that the performance would suffer as a result, so I'm > > currently studying the feasibility of other options. > > > > The need for mod_rewrite is a practical, commercial requirement based on the > > fact that many 3rd-party applications require rewrite rules, and the vast > > majority only work with mod_rewrite without the intervention of a developer. > > This has always been something of issue for us, and the growing popularity > > of > > open source software among non-developers is greatly exacerbating the > > problem. > > Also, we now provide Softaculous for our customers, but we've had to disable > > many of the 150+ applications because of their reliance on mod_rewrite. > > > > Furthermore, when we started migrating the H-Sphere platform, we found an > > unusually high proportion of domains are using mod_rewrite. During previous > > migrations, we have replaced them with Zeus rewrite scripts, but this time > > the > > numbers are just too high. > > > > So, we recently employed an experienced C developer to write an ISAPI filter > > to replicate exactly the behaviour of mod_rewrite under Zeus. However, > > although this works perfectly in our development environment (even under > > extremely heavy loads), after a few days on the live platform, something > > goes > > very wrong. After several weeks of debugging, testing and reading memory > > dumps, we're convinced the problem is with Zeus's ISAPI implementation - but > > so far we are unable to prove it, and I'm not sure they would fix it even if > > we could! > > > > If you are interested, I am confident I could arrange for the source code of > > our ISAPI Rewrite module to be released to the Cherokee project for use as > > an > > optional module. Obviously, the ISAPI layer would need to be replaced, but > > this is a minor part of the code. All we ask in return is that someone adds > > support for the other, mostly very simple, htaccess directives. I can ask > > the > > original developer if he would be willing to contribute to this, but he > > doesn't work for me so I can't guarantee it. > > > > Without this functionality, the only other option available to us is > > LiteSpeed > > - but I'm not keen on adopting another closed-source solution that isn't > > gaining significant market share. Also, I am convinced this is the only > > major > > hurdle preventing other mass hosting providers from moving away from Apache > > to > > something that scales more efficiently, such as Cherokee. > > > > Lastly, I have another feature suggestion to address the needs of mass > > hosting > > - support for custom document root mapping functions. > > > > Currently, we use the same method as shown in the documentation - ie > > /sites/e/x/example.com <http://example.com <http://example.com> > . This is > > fine for a few 10s of thousands of sites, but > > not very efficient once you get beyond 100,000. A better solution is what we > > use on our email clusters, which have many more users (around 1,000,000 in > > Italy). This uses the last 3 characters of the MD5 checksum of the username, > > like this: /email/5ab/example.com <http://example.com <http://example.com> > > > . This produces a more even distribution and, > > by being wide and shallow, allows for a much more efficient stat cache. > > > > Regards > > > > Marcus > > -- > > Marcus Don > > Senior Manager > > Research and Development > > DadaPro > > > > Main Line: +44 (0)845 363 3630 > > Main Fax: +44 (0)845 363 3631 > > Tech Support: +44 (0)845 363 3634 > > Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > Website: http://www.names.co.uk <http://www.names.co.uk> > > Address: Acton House, Perdiswell Park, Worcester WR3 7GD > > > > This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended > > solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. > > > > If you have received this email in error please notify the sender > > immediately. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that > > disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the > > contents of this information is strictly prohibited. Please note that any > > views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and > > do not necessarily represent those of the company. > > > > Finally, the recipient should check this email and any attachments for the > > presence of viruses. The company accepts no liability for any damage caused > > by any virus transmitted by this email. > > > _______________________________________________ > Cherokee mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > http://lists.octality.com/listinfo/cherokee > <http://lists.octality.com/listinfo/cherokee> > > > _______________________________________________ > Cherokee mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.octality.com/listinfo/cherokee > > _______________________________________________ > Cherokee mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.octality.com/listinfo/cherokee
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