Query response is very fast, even under peak loads, average total response time is less than 3 or 4 seconds. The SearchSDK Perl interface provides all the necessary facilities for searching and managing the AltaVista index and extracting matching entries. Since Perl excels at text manipulation, it is also a simple matter to add additional features such as hit highlighting. This service is in active use for researchers around the world. It covers C. elegans and human data.
Graphical data is supplied along with textual reports.
It has 1GB of RAM and 18GB of disk storage. We opted for a large memory machine because in-memory index manipulations were being carried out at the same time as multiple queries were being serviced. More memory improves performance of both operations. The index usually occupies approximately one third of the size of the original indexed data. As with many database-related applications, user confidence plays an essential role in making search and retrieval applications successful.