references and questions

[Ivan Kohler]

On Fri, Apr 23, 1999 at 04:31:30PM -0400, Jason Spears wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> We're embarking on a project that involves folding Freeside into our
> existing information systems, and I was hoping to find out a few things
> before we start.
> 
> 1. How many customers is Freeside known to handle?

Freeside was originally written as a billing system for a fast-growing
ISP.  It scaled up to 50k customers / 50 seats at the time.

Scaling in terms of number of customers is pretty much a moot point.  You
can throw a few million records at any SQL database with no problem.  I'd
remove the browse options from the main menu, though.

Scaling is *much* more a matter of seats (people using Freeside) than
customers (number of records in the database).  For this, mod_perl is a
essential.  You'll want to refer to the mod_perl performance tuning guide
at <http://perl.apache.org/guide/performance.html>.

Applications based on SQL, DBI, and mod_perl scale very well - Slashdot,
for example.  ;)

> 2. Are there any mid-sized or larger ISPs using Freeside?  If so, who?

I believe most current users are very small ISPs.

> 3. What has been your experience with SISD's support?  (the mailing
> 	list gives an indication that it is pretty good)
> 
> 4. Are most companies using all features of Freeside, or are you
> using only a selected subset?
> 
> TIA,
> 
> Jason Spears
> 

-- 
Ivan Kohler <ivan at sisd.com> - finger for PGP key - <moc.dsis at navi> Relhok Navi
Open-source billing and administration for ISPs - http://www.sisd.com/freeside
20 4,16 * * * saytime # please don't be surprised if you find me dreaming too