In order to manage the success and popularity of a web site, it needs to be designed to cope with a growing number of users. Applications need to scale upwards to remain responsive during times of heavy load, and backwards to reduce TCO when costly resources are no longer needed. Our aim is to provide a timely and seamless user experience without needing to invest in a permanent platform ready for the biggest potential future traffic spike.

In this white paper, we will discuss horizontal scaling, or adding additional resources (typically servers) to an existing infrastructure and spreading the load of one or more of the subsystems out across them. Because of its "shared nothing" design philosophy, PHP excels at horizontal scaling. We'll only briefly cover vertical scaling (additional RAM, CPUs or hard disk space), as every system can benefit from having bigger servers to run on.

There are two main challenges to scaling applications horizontally:

1) Designing an application that can be scaled as and when the need arises. To do this requires some architectural planning of the system, using techniques such as:

• Breaking applications into a series of loosely-coupled subsystems tied together via APIs


• Horizontally scaling subsystems individually (as opposed to vertically scaling the entire application)


• Scaling the database by using techniques like replication, sharding or federation

2) Arriving at a system which can add and remove resources automatically.

Download this white paper to learn several strategies for horizontal scaling of PHP applications, as well as to understand the overhead required for each one. We'll also make some recommendations about the kinds of scenarios which render each strategy a useful platform choice.

Download now (free, but we ask you to leave your contact details)

Vendor lock-in makes companies unable to switch suppliers without substantial costs or inconvenience. While standards bodies and an increased focus on interoperability have helped reduce the threat of application lock-in, website and web application development can still be a minefield. Often, site owners only realise the dangers of lock-in once they are trapped with rising support and maintenance costs, slow and expensive change processes, and the prospect of prohibitive costs to develop an equivalent solution from scratch.

In this white paper, Ian Barber, one of the technical consultants in Ibuildings' Professional Services delivery unit, looks at eight ideas that can help companies avoid vendor lock-in:

• Separate suppliers


• Integrate rather than extend


• Retain ownership of your data


• Retain ownership of intellectual property


• Look for mindshare


• Document the processes


• Prefer extensibility to features


• Get a second opinion

Following these guidelines, it is possible to realise the benefits of working with external suppliers without fear of lock-in.

Download a PDF copy now (free, but we ask you to leave your contact details)

The main concept behind Continuous Integration, as described by Martin Fowler, is simple: "Every developer checks in their code, every day." Adopting this policy allows teams to improve the quality of the software they deliver, as well as increases the ROI of the team by reducing the cost of developing internal software.

This new white paper discusses the policies and systems that together make up Continuous Integration. It explains how Continuous Integration can allow your teams to build projects faster and cheaper, and also covers several best of breed tools for PHP-based companies to use to implement such a system.

Download a PDF copy now (free, but we ask you to leave your contact details)

Every company starts with a single website or web application, but as a company's online presence grows, many different applications and sites are deployed. With a traditional approach of treating each of these applications as separate solutions, a number of problems occur:

• Inconsistencies in common functionality
• High maintenance costs
• Long time-to-market

Service APIs can help you reuse a set of common functionality, which is implemented only once into the service layer. They can also help integrate third party applications in a consistent and robust way, and work around possible performance limitations.

This new white paper, written by Ivo Jansch, explains the steps required to successfully migrate to a service API, from functional analysis all the way to documentation. It gives examples of common problems in the media and travel industries which can be solved with a service layer solution.

Download a PDF copy now (free, but we ask you to leave your contact details)

e-skills UK recently published their latest ICT Inquiry carried out during the first quarter of 2009. Based on more than 2,000 telephone interviews with individuals in ICT management roles across the UK, the survey makes an interesting read of the concerns and needs of IT managers with regards to staff training. (The site requires registration, which is free.)

Concerns over flexibility, value and content

The biggest concern (a major issue for 53% of respondents) was understanding exactly what training was needed among the ICT staff, followed by finding good value training (a major concern for 31% of respondents). Many respondents also found it difficult to find training that can be delivered flexibly (25% of respondents).

The PHP TestFest is a gathering by PHP enthusiasts that get together to write automated test cases for PHP. These test cases help prevent future incompatibilities and bugs in PHP. The event has grown global over the course of the years, with user groups everywhere in the world participating.

We just spent two fantastic days at the Future of Web Apps conference in London. There were so many PHPers around, most of whom we'd never met before, and it was so cool to hear about your current projects - there seems to be so much going on at the moment, despite the economic downturn! When we weren't playing with Microsoft Surface or riding the Sun "surfboard", we heard the founder of Digg bashing PHP - or at least announcing that they are moving some of their software into Python. The rumour says this is because of a need to use real threading and some other features that PHP cannot provide at the moment, and in that case - for those components - it's the right decision (it's as important to know when to use PHP, as it is when not to).

Following the success of our two PHP seminars in London, we have decided to make it a tour and to visit other parts of the UK and Ireland as well. Next up are Leeds and Dublin - come and meet us in your city! Find out more about our events below.

Early-Bird Offer: Sign up for any of our events by 15th August, and receive a free copy of the new php|architect book on Enterprise PHP Development, written by our CTO Ivo Jansch!