Building production websites with Node.js on the Microsoft stack
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The document details the transition of CellarTracker's web stack from legacy technologies, such as Classic ASP and VBScript, to a modern Node.js architecture integrated with Microsoft technologies. By utilizing Node.js along with IIS and Edge.js, the company aims to enhance performance, particularly for asynchronous operations, improve integration with SQL databases, and support mobile applications. The conclusion emphasizes the benefits of Node.js for high throughput and lower latency while highlighting challenges such as encoding and logging management.
![Example: Fetching a tasting note
{
"Note": {
"iNote": 3122730,
"iWine": 1314868,
"iUser": 60873,
"Name": "I",
"Favorite": 0,
"Rating": 95,
"TastingDate": "October 25, 2012",
"TastingNotes": "Dark red body. Subtle perfumed nose. A beautifully elegant body
full of plum, black cherry, and darker spices. This is a powerful wine with a long,
lingering finish. Refined tannins, good acids and structure. This is a really nice wine
right now, and will only get better with time!",
"LikeIt": true,
"AllowComments": true,
"Votes": 1,
"Views": 1234,
"Defective": false,
},
"Comments": [
{
"iComment": 5056,
"iUser": 1,
"Name": "Eric",
"Comment": "Yum, serious wines!",
"PostedDate": "11/13/2012 4:58pm",
"LastEditDate": "11/13/2012 4:58pm"
}
],
"Wine": {
"iWine": 1314868,
"Wine": "Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sorì San Lorenzo",
"Vintage": "2009",
"iProducer": 91,
"Producer": "Gaja",
"Locale": "Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC",
"Type": "Red",
"Varietal": "Nebbiolo",
"DisplayVintage": "2009",
"FullWineName": "2009 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sorì San Lorenzo",
"SplitLocale": [
"Italy",
"Piedmont",
"Langhe",
"Langhe DOC"
]
}
} JSON Data returned from C#](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/buildingproductionwebsiteswithnode-140918130418-phpapp02/85/Building-production-websites-with-Node-js-on-the-Microsoft-stack-22-320.jpg)
![Error Handling
1. Return empty JSON objects/arrays
2. .NET Exceptions JavaScript Error objects
• Standard node callback signature: callback(error, result)
• Exception is packaged up as standard Error object
{
[System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred.]
message: 'One or more errors occurred.',
name: 'System.AggregateException',
InnerExceptions: 'System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection`1[[System.Exception, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]]',
Message: 'One or more errors occurred.',
Data: 'System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal',
InnerException:
{ [System.Exception: Sample exception]
message: 'Sample exception',
name: 'System.Exception',
Message: 'Sample exception',
Data: 'System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal',
TargetSite: 'System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo',
StackTrace: ' at Startup.<<Invoke>b__0>d__2.MoveNext() in c:UsersUser.NameSourceReposeCash2testedge2.js:line 7rn--- End of stack trace from previous location where
exception was thrown ---rn at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)rn at
System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)rn at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()rn at
Startup.<Invoke>d__4.MoveNext() in c:UsersUser.NameSourceReposeCash2testedge2.js:line 5',
Source: 'cp2luegt',
HResult: -2146233088
},
HResult: -2146233088
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/buildingproductionwebsiteswithnode-140918130418-phpapp02/85/Building-production-websites-with-Node-js-on-the-Microsoft-stack-24-320.jpg)
Building production websites with Node.js on the Microsoft stack
- 1. Building production websites with Node.js on the Microsoft stack (aka “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love edge.js”) Dan Polivy [email protected] @DanPolivy
- 2. CellarTracker is the world's largest collection of wine reviews, tasting notes and personal stories from people who love wine. 1.7M+ wines, 4.5M+ tasting notes (community and professional), 300,000+ registered users
- 3. Why Node.js?
- 5. Yes, that’s VBScript Front End IIS Business Data Classic ASP (VBScript) MS SQL Server
- 6. 11 years of legacy… • Two web experiences built on Classic ASP/VBScript • Desktop and “Classic” • 170+ SQL tables, 25+ SQL Views • Existing infrastructure • Physical rack in Seattle datacenter • Virtualized on VMWare, guests running Windows Server
- 7. Mobile: not again! With limited resources (e.g., me), how can we modernize our stack to support next generation mobile web and apps without sacrificing our existing investments?
- 8. Node.js to the rescue? We already use a lot of JavaScript for our client side Lightweight development model (no compilation) Async nature seems well-suited to our workload (lots of blocking DB queries) It is (was) the new hot-ness (circa March 2013) ? Integration with IIS iisnode! ? Integration with SQL Tedious, MS NodeSQL, edge.js!
- 9. Will it blend? 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 iisnode Standalone Simulated Requests/sec Edge.js MS Node SQL Tedious Classic ASP HTTP Request returning HTML wine detail page with 5 SQL queries for data
- 10. Conclusion: Yes! • Async is a HUGE win for higher throughput & lower latency compared to serial systems like Classic ASP (and even Rails) • Contrary to what you might think, loading .NET in-process to talk to SQL yields significant performance gains vs pure JS or native (C++) drivers • Offloading heavy DB/computation lifting into .NET thread pool frees up Node.js’ main thread for other work • Marshalling data between JS and .NET has incremental cost • iisnode adds some (latency) overhead, but adds many useful features
- 11. iisnode A native IIS module that allows hosting of Node.js applications in IIS on Windows https://github.com/tjanczuk/iisnode
- 12. Process Management Side-by-Side Scalability Integrated Debugging Auto-update Process Management (forever) Side-by-Side (nginx) Scalability (cluster) Integrated Debugging (node-inspector) Auto-update (supervisor) Benefits
- 13. How does it work? Client • Initiates HTTP Request, e.g. ‘GET /m’ IIS • URL Rewrite rule routes request to app, e.g. ‘GET /m/server.js’ • iisnode handler spawns process as necessary and fwds request node.exe • Receives request via named pipe port (process.env.PORT) • Otherwise, works exactly the same as if it were standalone!
- 14. Why is this awesome? • Node.js app runs side-by-side with existing Classic ASP (or ASP.NET/etc) site • With URL rewrite module, enable IIS to serve up static content (e.g. client JS, CSS, images) more performant • X-Forwarded-For/X-Forwarded-Proto headers can be added so you know the true source of the request • app.set('trust proxy', true); • Lifecycle management gracefully drains/recycles processes when JS changes
- 16. edge.js and SQL .NET and Node.js in-process https://github.com/tjanczuk/edge
- 17. SQL Requirements • Parameterized queries • Input, output parameters and RETURN values • Call SPROCs (EXEC sp_FetchWineData) • Typically require multiple queries to fetch all data to render a page ADO.NET
- 18. Data model Proxy .NET assembly Bottles Notes Wines … SQL Client index.js node module Bottles Notes Wines … SQL Client edge.js • Separate C# assembly for data model, wrapped in JS API • Utilize .NET threadpool and C# async/await to parallelize queries • More efficient to write queries in C# and return JSON data
- 19. Example: Fetching a tasting note express.js route handler for /m/notes
- 20. Example: Fetching a tasting note cellartracker-sql.notes.getNote JS API
- 21. Example: Fetching a tasting note C# Notes.GetNote method
- 22. Example: Fetching a tasting note { "Note": { "iNote": 3122730, "iWine": 1314868, "iUser": 60873, "Name": "I", "Favorite": 0, "Rating": 95, "TastingDate": "October 25, 2012", "TastingNotes": "Dark red body. Subtle perfumed nose. A beautifully elegant body full of plum, black cherry, and darker spices. This is a powerful wine with a long, lingering finish. Refined tannins, good acids and structure. This is a really nice wine right now, and will only get better with time!", "LikeIt": true, "AllowComments": true, "Votes": 1, "Views": 1234, "Defective": false, }, "Comments": [ { "iComment": 5056, "iUser": 1, "Name": "Eric", "Comment": "Yum, serious wines!", "PostedDate": "11/13/2012 4:58pm", "LastEditDate": "11/13/2012 4:58pm" } ], "Wine": { "iWine": 1314868, "Wine": "Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sorì San Lorenzo", "Vintage": "2009", "iProducer": 91, "Producer": "Gaja", "Locale": "Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC", "Type": "Red", "Varietal": "Nebbiolo", "DisplayVintage": "2009", "FullWineName": "2009 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sorì San Lorenzo", "SplitLocale": [ "Italy", "Piedmont", "Langhe", "Langhe DOC" ] } } JSON Data returned from C#
- 23. General Purpose SQL Class • Support for SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, EXEC (SPROCs) • Parameters • Fully parameterized queries • Type (if not default) • Direction (in, out, inout, return) • Recordset Processors • Default: dump each row as JSON object in array • Return single JSON object (first row) • Return scalar value • Offset/Multiple recordsets
- 24. Error Handling 1. Return empty JSON objects/arrays 2. .NET Exceptions JavaScript Error objects • Standard node callback signature: callback(error, result) • Exception is packaged up as standard Error object { [System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred.] message: 'One or more errors occurred.', name: 'System.AggregateException', InnerExceptions: 'System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection`1[[System.Exception, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]]', Message: 'One or more errors occurred.', Data: 'System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal', InnerException: { [System.Exception: Sample exception] message: 'Sample exception', name: 'System.Exception', Message: 'Sample exception', Data: 'System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal', TargetSite: 'System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo', StackTrace: ' at Startup.<<Invoke>b__0>d__2.MoveNext() in c:UsersUser.NameSourceReposeCash2testedge2.js:line 7rn--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---rn at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)rn at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)rn at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()rn at Startup.<Invoke>d__4.MoveNext() in c:UsersUser.NameSourceReposeCash2testedge2.js:line 5', Source: 'cp2luegt', HResult: -2146233088 }, HResult: -2146233088 }
- 25. So, where are we now?
- 26. express + ADO.NET (C#) IIS Classic ASP SQL Server iisnode ADO
- 27. Apps • Built using Cordova framework • Leverage investment in mobile web • Backend completely powered by node.js • Remotely serve script to allow faster iteration • Add native capabilities where necessary/viable • Barcode scanning • Label image upload
- 28. Traffic Last 30 days: 1.6M+ page views served up by node.js! Nearly 6M page views served by Classic ASP on the same server. Mobile App Page Views/week Mobile Web Page Views/month
- 29. Tips, Tricks, and Lessons Learned
- 30. Encoding: UTF8 vs Windows 1252 Our database uses Windows 1252 encoding. JavaScript uses UTF8. What to do? If only http://howfuckedismydatabase.com/ had a joke about this…
- 31. Encoding: UTF8 vs cp1252 • Database • Characters with codes > 256 are HTML entity encoded, as are < and > (XSS prevention) • Classic ASP • Most pages set codepage to 1252, so ASP automatically does conversion/encoding for incoming values • All URLs on our desktop site are URL encoded using 1252 values • Node.js • Natively deal in UTF8, and convert when going to/from the DB • Edge.js/.NET handle much of it automatically, BUT we must do proper HTML entity encoding ourselves • Some manual character substitution is required (e.g. some chars have high codepoints in UTF8, but are below 256 in 1252) • Mobile URLs all use UTF8 encoding
- 32. Log file management • IIS logs • All node traffic ends up in IIS logs, so you have unified log for the server • BUT, you can’t tell which traffic is actually handled by node (unless you use paths) • express/node logs • Handled automatically by iisnode: console and stderr • One per node process, with a handy index.html • Still trying to figure out best management strategy (tips welcome!)
- 33. Git • Git and GitHub for Windows work great! • git-posh: PowerShell add-ins make life easier • Managing line-endings a small challenge • Most modules use unix endings; most of our code uses Windows • For now (but not ideal): set core.autocrlf to false • ‘git pull’ deploy • iisnode’s auto-refresh will automatically detect changes to JS and gracefully recycle processes while draining existing traffic
- 34. Other libraries • Testing • mocha • should • supertest • Build/automation • grunt • Front-end • express • handlebars (hbs)
- 35. Q + A
- 36. Thanks! Questions? Curious to learn more? Brave enough to try this yourself? Email me! [email protected]