Several Presale Questions about AbleCommerce

[elira529]

Hello,

First post here, so hello everyone, I'm Eddie.

Like the title says, I have some presales questions and concerns about AbleCommerce. And here they are:

• I am interested in using HACKERSAFE to help with the security and integrity of my server. I know that with HACKERSAFE there is a lot of server port testing and script execution. Has anyone here had any problems with HACKERSAFE while using Able? Such as misreads or false errors?

• Specifically talking about my server, I am trying to decide between a AMD Opteron based server and a Intel Xeon based server. From what I have been told (by the hosts I have been speaking with) the AMD will turn circles around the Intel with Able. They say it is much faster and especially so with websites that are dependent on databases and use a lot of dynamic elements such as AJAX. They are not that much different in terms of cost, but I just want to make sure I am getting accurate information. Based on your experiences/knowledge have you noticed a difference between the two?

• Also, at this time, I am considering 2 shopping carts. BV Commerce and Able 7. In almost every way Able is superior, but BV does have one edge. They allow fully custom URLs, specified manually page by page, or you can use the default automatic rewrite. I know that the default Able rewrites are good, but there is also something to be said for having custom URLs. I know it isn't capable of it out of the box, but potentially, is it possible to modify Able in such a way to allow for this? And would this require the API source?

I think there was one other question, but I cant seem to remember it right now. I will post it later if I remember it.

Thanks for reading,

Eddie

[jmestep]

We've used HackerSafe on our 5.5 site for several years and have never had a problem with vulnerabilities of Able code. Only problem we have had is with .asp code someone wrote a few years ago.

[Shopping Cart Admin]

Hello,

I cannot say which processor would be better as we're running all Intel.

From an SEO standpoint your URL should match the product title which is wrapped in <h1> tags and the page title for best SEO results. The only benefit I can see in having that feature would be for setting up 301 permanent re-directs to the new pages so you don't lose your currently indexed pages in google, however in reading their product description I don't believe that's what they are doing.

You'll be just fine using HackerSafe as we ran a similar test on 7.0 without finding any issues.

[Logan Rhodehamel]

They allow fully custom URLs, specified manually page by page, or you can use the default automatic rewrite. I know that the default Able rewrites are good, but there is also something to be said for having custom URLs. I know it isn't capable of it out of the box, but potentially, is it possible to modify Able in such a way to allow for this? And would this require the API source?

It's an interesting idea - makes a good feature suggestion. If you had the API source, it should be a simple customization.

Without API source, you could still accomplish it but would require more work.

Like Mike says, for SEO we make product links use the product title - but this assumes your goal is to get good rankings on that product name. If you are after something else, I can see where custom URL could be helpful.

[elira529]

We've used HackerSafe on our 5.5 site for several years and have never had a problem with vulnerabilities of Able code. Only problem we have had is with .asp code someone wrote a few years ago.

Judy, thats good news. As Mike confirmed below Able 7 is also HACKERSAFE compliant. It stands out to me that both Able 5.5 and Able 7 are HACKERSAFE compliant, because it shows a long standing dedication to security at the application layer. And last I heard, this is where 70% of all website attacks come from.

Hello,

I cannot say which processor would be better as we're running all Intel.

From an SEO standpoint your URL should match the product title which is wrapped in <h1> tags and the page title for best SEO results. The only benefit I can see in having that feature would be for setting up 301 permanent re-directs to the new pages so you don't lose your currently indexed pages in google, however in reading their product description I don't believe that's what they are doing.

You'll be just fine using HackerSafe as we ran a similar test on 7.0 without finding any issues.

Mike, you should very seriously consider using AMD Opterons as you are required to order new servers. They are cheaper and out perform Intel Xeons in every benchmark and comparison I have seen. In fact I have learned that most Xeons are just repackaged desktop P4's, whereas AMD Opterons were built and designed for servers. Opterons especially out perform in dynamic environments such as a Able server, and even more so in a 64 bit environment. After thorough research this is what I will be using. I would also specifically recommend using a 2000 series Opteron, such as a Opteron 2212. Quad core 2xxx Opterons will start coming out Q1 08, but for now the dual core 2000 series is about the best you can get without getting into very expensive enterprise type solutions (such as a Opteron 8xxx).

It's an interesting idea - makes a good feature suggestion. If you had the API source, it should be a simple customization.

Without API source, you could still accomplish it but would require more work.

Like Mike says, for SEO we make product links use the product title - but this assumes your goal is to get good rankings on that product name. If you are after something else, I can see where custom URL could be helpful.

Logan, I think it would be a great feature to see in Able 7 or maybe Able 7.1 since you think it would be easy. After my pointing it out, do you think you will implement this at some point?

[AbleMods]

Once IIS compiles the site, there's really not that much CPU load unless you're slamming millions of visits through it every day or forcing recompiles every 10 minutes. In that case, you'd be load-balancing a cluster environment across multiple NICs/Switches and have a lot of redundant CPU power anyways.

The load is on the drive channel pulling data and the NICs pushing traffic out to browser clients. My dual-core Xeon 3.06Ghz recompiles the entire AC7 site and all my .Net 2.0 customizations in about 3-4 seconds running RAID-1 on 15k drives with SQL 2005 Express local.