Utilizing Perl scripts in a web service app - Performance Considerations

Looking for some insight into the performance of using XML-RPC to run perl scripts via web service.

I am considering buying some perl scripts that have been developed to process large amounts of data as part of a backend ETL to a data warehouse. These scripts currently run as batch jobs via ksh/cron using standard filein/out. I would like to evaluate retooling them into a set of web services (e.g. SOAP, XML-RPC) to be used in an online/realtime transaction mode.

I have done some research and prototyping to confirm that technically, it can be done, but I am concerned about performance/scalability. Seems to me that parsing the XML is going to be the biggest bottleneck. I am sure I can throw hardware at it, but I am wondering if it will be cost effective. We are talking about processing 10Gb/client per day.

Does anyone here have any experience with perl via XML-RPC? Any insight would be appreciated.

Rewriting these perl scripts from the ground up is not an option (too expensive).

CSR

Hi,

my experience of Perl scripts is that if you run them through a certain program, (can't remember what it is called), they come out a lot better.