The Cornell Stack provides a consolidated Static, ColdFusion, and LAMP service.
Customer can host different types of websites using different technology on one VM which provides ease of administration and provides potential cost savings.
A summary of the updated features:
- 64-bit RHEL 6 (Coldfusion can allocate more than 2 GB of memory)
- CF9/LAMP currently using 32-bit RHEL5
- Coldfusion 10 using Java 1.7
- CF9 currently using CF9 with Java 1.6
- PHP 5.4
- LAMP2 currently uses PHP 5.3
- Python 2.7
- No change from LAMP2
- Ruby 1.9.3
- LAMP2 currently uses Ruby 1.8.7
- Perl 5.16
- No change from LAMP2
- MySQL 5.5
- Same version from LAMP2
- MySQL database located on same VM versus separate
- Local storage
- No longer use NFS (Shared File Service) for storage
- Customers can opt to continue to use SFS, but will incur additional charges
Details
Software Versions
|
Static |
CF9 |
LAMP2 |
Cornell Stack |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Apache |
2.2 |
2.2 |
2.2 |
2.2 |
Coldfusion |
|
9.0.1 |
|
10 |
mod_php |
|
|
5.3 |
5.4 |
php-fpm |
|
|
|
5.4 |
Python |
|
|
2.7 |
2.7 |
Ruby |
|
|
1.8.7 |
1.9.3 |
Shared vs. Standalone Apache
In CF9/LAMP2 each "instance" represented a separate apache instance that could be started/stopped independently. This provides a high level of isolation, but can also consume more system resources and complicate server administration. The "shared" apache instance makes it possible to host a larger number of instances on a single apache instance while still providing isolation between the instances.
|
Standalone |
Shared |
|---|---|---|
Apache |
2.2 |
2.2 |
Start/Stop Apache |
Yes |
Yes* |
mod_cgi |
Yes |
No |
Custom virtualhost include |
Yes |
Yes |
mod_php |
Yes |
No |
PHP-FPM |
Yes |
Yes |
Start/Stop PHP-FPM |
Yes |
Yes |
Coldfusion |
Yes |
Yes |
Start/Stop Coldfusion |
Yes |
Yes |
Python |
Yes |
Yes |
Ruby |
Yes |
Yes |
*Will start/stop ALL sites that are behind the shared Apache
How many instances
Using a VM with 2 GB of memory the following are some guidelines on possible deployments. Individual applications may vary (i.e. it's possible to have a single PHP/Python/Ruby/Perl application that consumes 100% of the memory. Increasing the amount of memory may make it possible to run more instances, but it is not a recommended best practice.
Please note that each instance could host anywhere from 1 website to 100 websites depending on how the software is configured (i.e. a single multisite drupal instance serving 100 websites).
Coldfusion
- 2 instances shared or standalone
PHP
- 3 standalone
- 9 shared
Python
- 3 standalone
- 9 shared
Ruby
- 3 standalone
- 9 shared
Static
- 3 standalone
- 100 shared
The estimates below are based on the following observed utilization
|
Memory (MB) |
|---|---|
Apache (mod_php) |
85 |
php-fpm |
35 |
coldfusion |
350 |