Friendster scales-out with MySQL network: social networking site handles' over one billion database queries per day.

Behind the Scenes with MySQL Friendster's engineering team decided to continue to base their site's infrastructure upon a foundation of open source software popularly known as the LAMP stack, an integrated combination of LINUX operating system, Apache Web server, MySQL database and PHP programming language. They were confident that LAMP would give them the performance, reliability, and flexibility they required. However, they needed to completely redesign their database server architecture to keep up with the site's high traffic volumes.

Friendster addressed this challenge by employing an innovative database strategy called "Scale-Out" that allows dozens of MySQL database servers to share a heavy workload--as opposed to the traditional "Scale-Up" approach that requires a continual investment in larger and more expensive hardware and proprietary database licenses to tackle application scalability.

As a start-up company, Friendster's staff knew that they could not afford the cost of the constant infrastructure overhaul associated with Scale-Up. Today, their engineering team estimates that their Scaled-Out MySQL implementation has saved them several millions of dollars by allowing them to use easy-to-implement technology components, such as cheaper, off-the-shelf PCs and the cost efficient LAMP software stack. Friendster's database architecture now revolves around 36 concurrent MySQL servers that coordinate separate sections of the social network site--such as member profiles, photo galleries, messages, testimonials and other interconnected user information. In front of each database cluster is a NetScaler load-balancing appliance that manages and monitors the performance and health of the servers. MySQL's robust design allows the system to easily replicate and failover to additional servers during peak traffic periods and occasional hardware failure. In this way, the Friendster system is able to reliably handle over a billion queries a day.

Behind the Scenes with MySQL Friendster

Friendster employs 36 replicated MySQL database servers to address the heavy needs of their 17 million registered users. Friendster chose MySQL Network as their database platform so they could realize significant cost savings and technical benefits, including:

* Fast Performance--Even with more than one billion queries per day, Friendster's MySQL database applications are lightening-fast.

* Reliable--easy-to-maintain replication and failover allows Friendster to affordably monitor the health of their 36 concurrent database servers--keeping them optimized and online at all times.

* Extensible--Taking advantage of MySQL's flexible architecture and open source code-base, Friendster built its own storage engine to add customized functionality and improve performance three-fold.

Easy Integration with open, less expensive components--Friendster has been able to scale out their entire infrastructure with affordable, commodity hardware and open source software--allowing them to save millions of dollars._High-Quality Technical

Support--MySQL Network gives Friendster's IT staff direct access to the MySQL knowledgebase and senior technical advisors. Friendster has appreciated their fast response, product knowledge and creative solutions.

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