SQL Server Performance & ASP

[Brad]

Hi Everyone,

I'm working on a web project that will potentially have many thousands of
users hit IIS during the course of any given day. So, with that, I've
decided to do some research before getting into any of the hard-core code. I
hope some of you will be able to lend some insight.

Environment:
IIS 5.1 / SQL Server 2000 / Single XP Machine (for now)

One issue I'd like to address is database performance. I personally don't
like Session variables and would like to completely avoid them for this
project. Should I be storing each users' state in a table and have it
saved/accessed each time a user hits another page on the site? I've heard
that this is done by some sites, but seems pretty hard on the database
server. :/ -Or- Would it be better to store users' state in an array,
accessed through the Application object? If I did this, I'm assuming I would
have to lock/unlock the Application object during each array access/update.

Does the Application object have the same caveats as the Session object, ie:
Session vars can get lost depending on browser version or vendor, or if
cookies are turned off in the user's browser.

Any help is appreciated,
~Brad

[Ken Schaefer]

Application variables are global to all visitors, and do not rely on cookies
(the variables are available to all users, so there's no need to use an
user-dependant info). If you want to store user-specific information in
application variables, you still need some way to associate the user with
their variables. Hence you are back to the sane problems that Session
variables face.

If you do decide to store session variables in a database, you are still
facing the problem of associating a user with their variables, especially if
the user doesn't have cookies enabled. The way ASP Session varaibles work is
that the server generates an ASPSessionID, which is stored in a cookie on
the client machine. The server stores all the variables in server memory,
and associates them with the ASPSessionID. The client returns the
ASPSessionID cookie, and the server then looks up the associated variables
as required.

Lastly, you're running this on a Windows XP Pro machine? I don't think I'd
worry at all about using session variables, or overloading your database
etc, until you move to a server OS. Windows XP Pro has its own limitations
(eg a maximum of ten open HTTP connections), which will limit the amount of
users well before you start running into the limits of ASPSession variables
(eg the requirement to get a webfarm), or the limits of SQL Server (assuming
you're not running this on a Pentium 200 MHz with 64 MB of RAM!)

Cheers
Ken

"Brad" <_nospam_disruptedsinner@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eqcH9tEkDHA.2416@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
: Hi Everyone,
:
: I'm working on a web project that will potentially have many thousands of
: users hit IIS during the course of any given day. So, with that, I've
: decided to do some research before getting into any of the hard-core code.
I
: hope some of you will be able to lend some insight.
:
: Environment:
: IIS 5.1 / SQL Server 2000 / Single XP Machine (for now)
:
: One issue I'd like to address is database performance. I personally don't
: like Session variables and would like to completely avoid them for this
: project. Should I be storing each users' state in a table and have it
: saved/accessed each time a user hits another page on the site? I've heard
: that this is done by some sites, but seems pretty hard on the database
: server. :/ -Or- Would it be better to store users' state in an array,
: accessed through the Application object? If I did this, I'm assuming I
would
: have to lock/unlock the Application object during each array
access/update.
:
: Does the Application object have the same caveats as the Session object,
ie:
: Session vars can get lost depending on browser version or vendor, or if
: cookies are turned off in the user's browser.
:
: Any help is appreciated,
: ~Brad
:
:
:
:

[Ray at]

Give this page a read. [url]http://www.aspfaq.com/2424[/url]

Ray at home

"Brad" <_nospam_disruptedsinner@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eqcH9tEkDHA.2416@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm working on a web project that will potentially have many thousands of
> users hit IIS during the course of any given day. So, with that, I've
> decided to do some research before getting into any of the hard-core code.

I

> hope some of you will be able to lend some insight.
>
> Environment:
> IIS 5.1 / SQL Server 2000 / Single XP Machine (for now)
>
> One issue I'd like to address is database performance. I personally don't
> like Session variables and would like to completely avoid them for this
> project. Should I be storing each users' state in a table and have it
> saved/accessed each time a user hits another page on the site? I've heard
> that this is done by some sites, but seems pretty hard on the database
> server. :/ -Or- Would it be better to store users' state in an array,
> accessed through the Application object? If I did this, I'm assuming I

would

> have to lock/unlock the Application object during each array

access/update.

>
> Does the Application object have the same caveats as the Session object,

ie:

> Session vars can get lost depending on browser version or vendor, or if
> cookies are turned off in the user's browser.
>
> Any help is appreciated,
> ~Brad
>
>
>
>

[Brad]

Thanks guys... I will glean everything I can from the help, especially the
FAQ page.

~Brad

[Brad]

Thanks guys... I will glean everything I can from the help, especially the
FAQ.

~Brad