Jim,
> Cheap servers (quad core Intel) can send 39,.000 messages through a
> switch per second without breaking a sweat ...
> What does this suggest about the future of database systems built around
> disks?
Combining what you're doing with solid state storage might get a really nice
solution for cases where scale up is the only viable solution, or where
redesigning the architecture isn't viable.
I've seen a single server at a major media company pass so many network
packets to clients that they swamp the packet rate that the network switches
can route. I've also seen memcached use swamp network switches at a very
well known site to the point that data had to be moved from memcached to
clients to avoid overloading the network.
You might want to have a word with the Dolphin Interconnect people sometime,
if you haven't already:
http://solutions.mysql.com/solutions/partner.php?partner=1112
They do good things for MySQL Cluster performance, via reduced network latency.
James Day, MySQL Senior Support Engineer.
