For example, hardware that can scale from one to 64 processors lets customers expand their operation without having to go through the agony of porting their software to another operating system. The exact configuration of your hardware will depend on the sort of site you are running. Many companies choose to process all their end-user queries in memory, rather than on disk, points out Allinson. Even with modern fibre-channel storage conductivity, memory is still much faster. It is about playing off one advantage against the other, he says.
Memory is very fast, but cache memory can be volatile.
You can use various tools to help test your site's capacity before it goes live. This can be useful for coping with peaks in demand. If your site is concerned with selling garden implements, for example, then you may find a surge of orders in the spring when people start planting. A site selling flowers may peak at weekends and find itself under particularly severe strain at certain times of the year, such as Easter and Mother's Day. The company sells its LoadRunner load-testing product along with a set of other tools, including Astra QuickTest, WinRunner WebTest, TestDirector and Astra SiteManager.