Preface

Load balancing, caching, and performance remain in very high demand, but the perception that they are either extremely expensive, difficult, or both has managed to persist. It is perhaps not all that surprising, as not so long ago only a few large or specialist companies really needed to take such things seriously. Today, though, even a personal blog can get so much traffic that the server can’t cope, and company web sites simply have to be up and running all day, every day—no matter what. If you have a site that has to be fast and reliable all the time but you’re not sure where to start or you don’t have a multimillion-dollar budget (or even if you do!), this book can help!