5. Web Hosting–Resource Management Challenges

5. Web Hosting–Resource Management
Challenges
Managing computer-system resources in the shared platform and the dedicated
platform is challenging. As a Web site becomes more popular and is sought after
by millions of Internet users, the Web site demands more and more system
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resources. Being able to measure, monitor, and manage the amount of system
resources is essential for Web-site availability and server performance.
Critical system resources to manage include the following:
•
central processing unit (CPU) utilization
•
memory utilization
•
disk-swap space
•
disk space
•
disk input and output
•
network input and output
•
Internet bandwidth (not a computer-system resource but still requires
monitoring and managing)
These critical system resources have a direct relationship with the performance of
a specific Web site. A Web site can be created or modified to minimize the
demand on these system resources. Some Web sites are developed without the
consideration of system-resource utilization. When a Web site contains and
executes a CGI script, CPU resources are demanded. If the Web site contains a
large number of CGI scripts and requires these scripts to be executed by every
Web-site visitor, then CPU resources become a major bottleneck and cause the
Web site to appear slow. It is important for the Web-site designer and developer
to balance system-resource demands with Web-site functionality and creativity.
To measure, monitor, and manage the computer-system resources, additional
software must be installed on the computer system. Each type of computer
system hardware requires specific software for resource management. The
computer-system manufacturer and operating system–software developer should
be able to identify the necessary software applications for measuring, monitoring,
and managing the system resources for their specific computer systems.