[xsl] perhaps OT: ?s on native XML DBs and filesystem XML docs

[Robert Koberg <rob at koberg dot com>]

Hi,

I starting to investigate content XML storage options for an application 
that is driven by java servlets and XSLT. There are so many options 
ranging from free (Xindice) to very expensive (Tamino). 
I currently have an app based on filesystem XML documents. The content 
XML could be changed anytime a user is using the app (based on a lock 
system). The way the app is built would map nicely to an XML DB (I 
believe...).

I am in the process of learning how to do stress/load testing. I was 
hoping you guys could help on a few (not so simple) things:
[Example system info: RAM=512MB, processor=800mHz_XEON, OS=Linux_RedHat, 
webserver=Apache, servlet-container=(Resin | Tomcat)]
[Each HTTP request would require a cached XSLT Template (30% of the time 
2-3 cached templates) and between 1 and 5(n?) filesystem XML documents]

1) Is there a general rule of thumb when the number of concurrent hits 
to a filesystem based app would hit the wall?
2) What are people's impressions of native XML DBs? Who is the best? Who 
is the best for a small budget (hopefully much less than 25k)?
3) If you have a user base on a single server of between 2 to 20 users 
would you need an XML DB or would a filesystem based app work decently?
4) If you have a user base of 'n' number of groups of 2-20 users, what 
would 'n' need to equal before you hit the wall?
5) Are there any suggestions on how to test these types of things? (I 
recently bought _ Java Tools for eXtrmeme Programming_ , by Richard 
Hightower and Nicholas Lesiecki, which  will hopefully help me going 
forward).

Thanks is advance for any help!
-Rob



 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list