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Web-based Systems Architecture

Where the web-based systems have increased the number of users, there number of risks has also been increased. So, application performance needs greater attention. In online survey in USA, it has been found that an average waiting time of a web user is eight seconds for downloading a complete page before leaving the site. In France, there may be some variation in this limit but to provide high performance is a main issue in the success of a web system (Cassone, 2001).

A web-based system is different from client-server application i.e. users and customers don’t have much knowledge, its architecture (Proxies, DNS, Servers, firewalls etc.) is more complex, and there are more risks. A web-based system can be consisted of a variety of components, like web servers, databases, and application servers, as well as network devices such as firewalls, routers, switches and load balancers (Dustin, 2002). The range of complexity in web-based systems varies from simple websites to large web systems like Yahoo, Google, or Amazon which includes complex search engines and order completion. We can see the architecture of web-based system in this way, if we take the model of a traditional business transaction system and to change the customer front end by the website. A customer purchases the company products or any kind of services, in exchange for money. There are methods that make it possible that transaction among customer and company. As a substitute of a sales representative, a cashier, a clerk, or such person, the browser will make it possible to point that website. This will result that company will never be closed. Customers can purchase their selves.

For example think about a vending machine. It has a basic user interface. The key function of the machine is to fill orders on the basis of input from users and it also authenticates transfer of funds. Now let’s add some complexity into the machine. We make User Interface a browser-based solution in place of touch pad, which is required to run in different browsers on different operating systems. And machine will have capability to fulfil orders directly from a warehouse, whilst re-stocking and tracking inventory. As a result, people don’t need to put coins in the machine, but they will enter their credit card information. When the people will make transactions, the machine will be required a real time access to credit companies in order to approve these transactions. Furthermore, we would also be expecting that all credit card information that we enter should be really secure. (Macintosh, 2000)

Performance has been a driving force in system architecture for quite a while. Since application performance greatly depends on the architecture, and it is considered to be vital, “as the price/performance ratio of hardware plummets and the cost of developing software rises, other qualities have emerged as important competitors to performance” (Bass, 2003). To test and measure performance of web-based systems efficiently, and to identify what possible enhancements could be there, it’s relatively important to describe its architecture.