From ASP to ASP.NET or PHP / PERL

should i migrate a site from asp to asp.net or to php / perl

[MatrixBrains]

Hi, i am working with a website having -
1) approx 2 lakhs page views / month.
2) only the login and forums use ms access database
(however, now the forum pages are very slow)
3) the entire site is in asp. and contains thousands of pages.

I have plans to develop further applications in this website to make more use of databases (with multiple users, reading / writing frequently).

I am stuck up with following Qs?
1) I have heard that asp.net is better than asp for future. So, should i migrate now. Will it be worth the hard work of designing so many pages
2) Should i migrate from MS acess to Mysql or some other database , capable of handling more requests or having more speed (pages loading quickly)
3) Should i shift to PHP (i am a novice in it, but if the work is worth it, then i am willing to learn and do it all)
4) Should i go for some portal applications like dotnetnuke / phpnuke or stick to my individual page designing process [This because, i am concerned with data backup issue.]
5) Is it easy to backup mysql db? Should i split my db to several mini dbs?

Any advice is appreciated.

REgards,
MB

[txbakers]

There is no reason to migrate away from ASP. If you have thousands of pages like you say, then I wouldn't change any of them.

Your problem is the database. you can't use Access as a database/server. That is why your pages are slow. Pretty soon your website will just stop loading at all. That is something you need to migrate from. mySQL is a good choice and it is easy to back up.

I wouldn't bother with any of the templates if you already have thousands of pages.

if anything, I'd try to find a way to reduce the number of pages, and make it more dynamic.

[MatrixBrains]

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

Thousands of pages are there but the site is dynamic in the sense that -
1) under the main folder there are many subfolders.

2) for most of the subfolders, i have customized include header and footer files.

3) for sub subfolders, i have customized include header and footer files for many of the pages.

But i cannot update all the include header and footer templates together as for each folder they are different and usually are based on other include files, so changing one will result in improper working of one or more unknown folder.

However, i have taken up the task of making more generic includes , so that i have to do less of a redesign if i need it in future (But the hard fact is , by the time one learns something right/new, he/she has already created a lot of pages, and reduplication of effort is tiring.)

Thanks for the suggestion. Any more comments are welcome, and very much appreciated.

Regards,
MB

[raywood]

I don't think you have to completely redesign all your pages at once. If you are on a server that supports ASP and ASP.NET you can have both kinds of pages running on the same site. So you can do the changes gradually until you get them all done. Include files work the same way with the same syntax in both ASP and ASP.NET.

I am hooked on ASP.NET. I have mixed in some old style ASP pages on some of my newer .NET sites with no problem. I'll get around to updating all the pages to .NET someday.

[MatrixBrains]

Hi Raywood!

Thanks for the reply And correctly pointing out that both asp and aspx pages can be run simultaneouly.

I am not going to update all old asp pages with aspx right now. Will do them gradually.

Right now the problem is - i have a new website project. Which language do i choose - PHP / PERL / ASP.NET (considering heavy site traffic, future support and updates in the language)

Regards,
MB

[raywood]

Well, MatrixBrains, that's the $64K question. I guess in terms of performance and capabilities it doesn't really make much difference. Personally, I never did like PERL very much. But I was lucky. Back in the early days of the www I got to work with many different application servers in several different languages. Wierd proprietary languages.

Every language has its champions who will testify that it is the best. Like I said, I'm hooked on .NET. I use VB and C#, I can also use C++ or any other language I want to for a particular project. The whole architecture and object structure suits me fine. Once I got used to it I just fell into the groove. So much better than the old ASP.

If you are a C++ or VB or even a Java programmer, then .NET will immediately make sense and be easy. It has some quirks and pitfalls, but it is my favorite.

[MatrixBrains]

Hi Raywood, Thanks for the advice.

i just read some tutorials on php, pretty easy to start with.

I think for the time being i will stick to asp.net and first try out MS-SQL database.

[raywood]

I use MSSQL on all my sites. There are a couple of new interfaces out there for connecting to mySQL in .NET. I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to experiment with it pretty soon.

[raywood]

BTW, a pretty serious security hole was discovered in .NET. Microsoft published a little piece of code you can use to plug the hole. I can't remember the url for it, but you should be able to find it easily. Don't forget to use it on your sites.

[MatrixBrains]

Thanks Raywood!

Probably this is the security hole that you are talking about "The latest ASP.NET vulnerability is due to a canonicalization error within the .NET authentication schema" (got it from net).

I will keep it in mind. Thanks again.

Regards,
MB

[raywood]

That's the one. the fix is very simple. I use it on all my sites.

[topr8]

consider this

... google will never (?) penalise/inflate a site based on the technology of the server.

but does the same apply to microsoft? whose websearch will be bigger in the future than it is now.

despite the claims of the linux guys, i think asp.net is fantastic, additionally imho ms-sqlserver is superior to mysql - the one drawback is that in a cheap hosting environment ms is more expensive, but if you get very busy the extra cost is trivial.

[raywood]

Interesting thought, topr8. Would MS apply a bias on its SERP's to give advantage to sites using its own technology? It seems unlikely, but it could be done so subtly.

I've not heard the linux folks trashing .NET. I mostly just hear rants about Windows, and I can understand why.

I hear people saying that VB.NET and C# in are not true object oriented languages because they do not conform to strict definitions of inheritance and polymorphism. That's just academic bs in my opinion. I like .NET and plan to stay with it for a long time.