[FIXED] Running the same web app on 2 or more physically separate servers?

Issue

I am not sure if I should be posting this question here or over at ServerFault so apologies if it is in the wrong place.

I have a small web app that is starting to get some more business.

Currently I have a single dedicated LAMP server for this, and this has worked well - the single server is able to handle all of our traffic.

However... Recently I have been approached by some potential customers who are interested in using the app, but only if their data can be stored on a server in the same province as they are (legal reasons).

I could migrate the server, but I am reluctant to do this. I like where it is now.

So, I am wondering what is involved in having multiple servers in physically separate datacentres far apart, running the same web app? Data between the servers would not need to stay synced, necessarily.

I have never done anything like this before, and am not sure how complicated a job it is. Any suggestions on how and where to start looking into this would be much appreciated.

Thanks (in advance) for your advice.

Solution

As long as each customer has their own set of data you can just install another copy of the application in the other datacenter. It will require you to get some structure to your source control and deployment process, but it works. This option will give you two separate databases.

If you have to have one common database for all the customers (e.g. some kind of booking/reservation system of common resources) then you're up to a completely other level of complexity with replicating databases etc. It's doable, but it's hard.

Answered By - Anders Abel