Edge-server architectures are widely used to improve web-application performance for non-transactional data. However, their use with transactional data is complicated by the need to maintain a common database that is shared among different edge-servers. In this paper we examine alternative edge-server architectures for transactional Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) applications. We examine an architecture in which a remote database is shared among a number of edge-servers and an
architecture in which edge-servers maintain cached copies of transactionally-consistent EJBs. These edge-server architectures
are also compared to a classic clustered datacenter architecture. We use a benchmark application and prototype EJB-caching implementation to drive a performance analysis of these architectures. We find that edge-servers enhanced with EJB
caching offer a good compromise between the high-latency incurred with a remote-database architecture and the high-bandwidth requirements of a traditional clustered (non-edge) architecture. Importantly, the caching function is transparent to
applications that use it; the same programming model is used as in non-caching architectures; and the same transactional semantics are provided to applications.
By: Avraham Leff, James T. Rayfield
Published in: RC22658 in 2002
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