My employer was using swiki for awhile, which does not use a database backend - instead it uses xml files. The idea was to keep it as simple as possible and remove dependencies and simplify administration. Worked well until the machine went down because of a runaway script and the XML files were mangled somehow. We have since switched to using a different wiki, with a database backend.

Issues like file/record locking and the ability to gracefully handle an unexpected shutdown are things that databases excel at. I would recommend taking advantage of this.

If the DBI modules are not installed on the server you can always install them to a local directory and define the PERL5LIB environment variable.

As for reducing the number of machines involved, why not run the database on the same machine as the web service?

In reply to Re^3: (RFC) A CGI whiteboard editing script for emergencies by imp
in thread (RFC) A CGI whiteboard editing script for emergencies UPDATED WITH CODE 9/26/06 by OfficeLinebacker

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