In 3 months I created a online book store called mybookdepot.com with drupal 7.
I was using drupal 6 and was very happy for some projects that did not have to many nodes - but with this project it was different.
Book store has around 200.000 nodes (books) and when I finished the project and started it on a shared hosting at godaddy - it was awfull - 10 to 20 seconds per page load...
Then I had to optimize it - mostly with turning caching on (although I had to buy more DB space :) views caching table is around 2GB large and had to do some serious sql rewriting - which in drupal 7 is pain in the ass, because it uses objects for query and if you would like to avoid JOINS - you just CAN'T.
The problem was also with field_revisions <- which can add some more used DB space... and so on.
I almost gave up on drupal, because it is really not optimized for thousands of nodes (especially when combined with a lot of (CCK) fields and Views).
I managed to do it, but the hosting isn't cheap :).
You can look at the site at http://www.mybookdepot.com
If you have questions about used modules or hacks, post them here, I'll be happy to answer them!
Comments
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I like the theme and functionality, but it was definitely slow for me in the usa. And I'm also very concerned about the prospects of a d7 site with a lot of fields per content type (i have a d6 site with lots of interrelated content types with many fields that will eventually need to be upgraded).
Also, what ecommerce module did you use?
Nice work...
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Too bad it is slow in the USA
Too bad it is slow in the USA - probably the connection speed between EU (servers are based in Slovenia) and USA.
It is too bad for d7 that you have to deal with several optimizations when having several nodes and fields... I choose drupal because it gives a feeling that is made for large sites... It is. But not without customization and optimization - which in terms leads to dealing with code most of the time not with content.
But drupal is still drupal it has its pros and cons, but it still was surprising to me that in these days CMS can be so resource consuming.
Actually it works without ecommerce module - in the end it redirects you to bookdepository. But typically I use ubercart, which is a lot like drupal also :) customize customize customize.
Thank you for your comment, I have to check what are the response times from usa... The problem that in Slovenia I found a shared hosting that shares like <100 websites - and d7 performance there is good, but when you go do godaddy or something similar in the USA... where there are >7000 websites / server... Will try to figure out if server location in Germany is suitable for USA customers.
Latest drupal 7 sites:
Libri Stranieri and Strane Knjige
Drupal performance resources
A good overview of Drupal performance techniques:
http://www.tutr.tv/t5011 (1hr screencast)
Damn Quick Drupal: How to Make Drupal Perform and Scale Like a Rockstar!
Presented by: Michael Cooper at DrupalCon London
A big list of performance resources in two parts:
Performance analysis and diagnosis + Performance improvement
http://www.listology.com/jwalling/list/drupal-performance
thanks for the tip - will
thanks for the tip - will check it out, i've been searching myself for optimization but found nothing.
I'll report back if these tips helped!
Latest drupal 7 sites:
Libri Stranieri and Strane Knjige
Very nice site. I feel your
Very nice site. I feel your pain with Drupal performance.
One minor fault I spotted. The content in the first carousel is too large for the container, and is pushing the button out of view.