I’ve always wondered why my SQL Server 2000 database with only 15,000 records would be so slow to display search results compared to Google search. While it’s practically impossible to recreate the custom hardware and web servers Google uses to power Google.com, there are many alternatives that can still get you high performance at relatively low cost. Following are some links to how Instagram, which was recently bought by Facebook for $1B, scaled their service on a budget.
To learn more about how other companies scale their websites, visit http://highscalability.com.