Couldn't agree with Adam more. Why not use both? For MetaCDN.com we use GAE as the "web role" / front end and do the heavy lifting (large file replication, video encoding, etc) on EC2 instances around the globe on an as needed basis.
On 3 December 2010 08:09, Adam Sah <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm a *very* longtime GAE user and former googler and I love it... but > for now, > I usually recommend it as an *ingredient* and not as the backbone > of the > whole system. > > Specifically, GAE can't support certain libraries (e.g. anything with > C/C++), > so you inevitably need another service like AWS, linode, etc. I > use Linode > to run SOLR for us and another PC instance for our offline pipeline > (maybe > move to Tasks???) > > GAE makes a nice frontend-- just be prepared for whining about short > outages, > limitations, etc. -- OTOH, I love not carrying a pager, instant > scaling, etc. > I once did 600 QPS on appengine, effortlessly. I've run $MM > businesses > on appengine, painlessly. > > One thing: if you start on GAE you can easily migrate away, but if you > start > elsewhere it's very hard to migrate to GAE. This argues for giving > it a shot, > then re-evaluating (say) monthly. > > For my latest startup, we're based entirely on GAE and it's love-hate, > but we've > stuck with it and the issues haven't been big enough to matter-- > and v1.4 > (any minute now!!!) should solve 50+% of the hassles. > > adam > > > On Dec 2, 10:03 am, Grzegorz Machniewski > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Do you know how Zynga's backend is set up on AWS? I would imagine it's > > > > pretty complex so, you have to have the system architects and > administrators > > to manage that. > > > > Zynga is using RightScale as a platform management software ( > http://www.rightscale.com/). <http://www.rightscale.com/%29.>.. it > automates management and scaling of the > > application. It's quite impressive solution, > > > > Regards > > G. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 6:34 PM, Eli Jones <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Maybe one of the Google developers will see this and can provide you > with > > > an informed answer.. but, if it slips through the cracks, you should > > > definitely ask during the IRC office hours (or just check #appengine on > > > irc.freenode.net, since someone from Google may be there at any time.) > > > > > If your app becomes popular on a Farmville scale, you'd have to be > prepared > > > to automatically start-up new instances and balance load across them. > Which > > > means you'd need to spend time and energy designing this sort of system > up > > > front. > > > > > Though, if you just plan on cranking up an Extra Large EC2 Instance and > > > running off of that (and maybe using SimpleDB on the back end).. and > dealing > > > with front end scaling issues later. You would probably be fine.. most > apps > > > do not become popular on the Farmville scale. SimpleDB will enforce a > > > little database discipline, and, if you do "blow up", you could > probably > > > figure out how to load balance over multiple static instances until you > > > cooked up some sort of automated scaling method. (Again, this depends > on > > > you using SimpleDB on the back-end.) > > > > > With Appengine, you avoid any sort of systems architecting (just code > as > > > fast as possible).. but you have to spend time coding ways to deal with > the > > > 99th percentile outlier Datastore issues. > > > > > Maybe there are some people here who have user facing apps who can > speak > > > about this from experience (I happily do backend processing where > retrying a > > > failed datastore operation or a failed cold start is no problem.. and > there > > > is no user on the other side to become frustrated.) > > > > > On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 1:10 AM, Shane <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > >> I know this has been asked one way or another before, but most of the > > >> main issues to do with GAE stability seem to have been asked around > > >> the end of 2008, early 2009. > > > > >> Basically, I have been arguing back and forth with my business partner > > >> about whether to use GAE or AWS for the back-end of our social game > > >> engine. I love GAE (Java) for so many reasons, and although it used > > >> to be unstable, it's pretty good now. The main argument in favour of > > >> AWS is the fact that AWS has proven itself with multiple games running > > >> tens of millions of active users per day. The obvious pin-up child > > >> for AWS is Zynga, with its Farmville peaking at 80+million DAU. And > > >> that's just one of the hugely successful games running on the AWS > > >> infrastructure. Remarkable achievement. > > > > >> So, one way or another it's KNOWN to work. GAE on the other hand > > >> doesn't have any examples that I could find doing these sorts of > > >> numbers. Not even close. So can I trust it? Is there a single > > >> example of a large social game with millions of Daily Active Users, > > >> using GAE? > > > > >> I look forward to your thoughts, but please also note, this is not > > >> intended to start any sort of flame war. I love both systems, but > > >> both have their positives and negatives, but I'm about to make an > > >> architectural decision that likely won't be undone moving forward. > > > > >> Regards, > > >> Shane > > > > >> -- > > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups > > >> "Google App Engine" group. > > >> To post to this group, send email to > [email protected]. > > >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > >> [email protected]<google-appengine%[email protected]><google-appengine%2Bunsubscrib > [email protected]> > > >> . > > >> For more options, visit this group at > > >>http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > > > > -- > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups > > > "Google App Engine" group. > > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > . > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > > [email protected]<google-appengine%[email protected]><google-appengine%2Bunsubscrib > [email protected]> > > > . > > > For more options, visit this group at > > >http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > > > -- > > Grzegorz Machniewski > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Google App Engine" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<google-appengine%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google App Engine" group. 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