On 8/19/07, Brianna Laugher brianna.laugher@gmail.com wrote:
Re: the discussion about an API and external tools, We have a bit of a problem in that we are using both the toolserver and the regular servers in ways they were not intended for. They are both really intended for Wikimedia-internal use. If we use them for external tools, Wikimedia does not directly benefit. If we were to have any great success, it would likely backfire and result in the thing being shut down or restricted.
So, do you think we should (sometime in the future, not tomorrow :)) consider approaching a chapter or outside org to donate hardware specifically for this purpose? Call it the Commons thumbcache server.
I'm not sure I see a clear need at this point.
Commons traffic levels just aren't significant enough to be an issue and maintaining an additional database replica is a substantial labor... some of the commons tools require access to copies of all the sites as well.
I think that for specific high traffic tools with well defined needs, like search, there might be a stronger case. Especially if the tools wouldn't require running another full database slave.
For general grab-bag tools thats pretty much what toolserver is for and it provides a lot of infrastructure to make those efforts easier.
We shouldn't let system capacity be a limiting factor in our actions, however, if we do build something that needs more resources than toolserver can handle, I will be standing beside you asking for more resources. I don't see any reason that they shouldn't be provided if needed.