rhein1969 wrote
These sites are going to be mainly CMS sites. I don't think we are going to allow them to have Forums (but I might be wrong on that) for the time being assume it's just CMS sites. Instead of a "Web Farm" we are probably going to look at multiple instances of DNN on multiple servers. Yes I know you don't get the fault tolerance, but it would be simpler. Having said that however, we might look into a web farm on a clustered server.
So what are people seeing per server 100 sites? 1000?
Thanks
I must assume that you are going to purchase a CMS module then?
I have worked with several CMS systems over the years both commercial such as Ektron CMS and open source such as Mambo, Joomla and Drupal. DotNetNuke really (at least from my experience thus far with it which granted is limted) really doesnt quite fit the CMS label. While CMS's such as Joomla, Drupal etc. can readily do anything done in DNN modules they are not really portals per se. Whenever I am asked "What CMS do you think I should use?" I say if going Commercial Ektron (its really good) or if going inexpensive Joomla as its really a power-house and has exceptional performance and the support community. Unfortunately its all PHP and I am not a big fan of PHP.
I have not tried any of the Java based CMS or for that matter Portal solutions, there are many. I can only "guess" that the Java based ones probably yield best performance since Java has pretty much become the "performance" standard when it comes to needing high performance applications (ie: most "AAA" gaming titles that require powerhouse performance are nearly all done in Java now)... Never learned Java myself, I know C++. I have wanted to learn Java but have not found the time.
Anyways... to be helpful since I do have a good deal of CMS history do make sure that your requirements can be met by whatever software solution you choose. Its a complete pain in the neck to get all set up and such with one application only to find, this I cant do, that I cant do, it doesnt perform well enough for my traffic, it blows up this/that. With such things write down what you believe the requirements to be as well as the expectant traffic. Then go over it again. Next try and have some future vision of what additions you might like to make over time and the load impact etc. of them. Then go over it again. Now look for a solution that has the power and extensibility/reliability to make it reality. For example, Amazon does not use Drupal by accident in many areas of their site. They use it because its one efficient beasty that can handle help systems, forums etc. under just enormous loads of sessions hitting it.