We've been using MT on a newspaper website since 2004 (still using version 2.661) and have been looking at options to speed things up (we now have about 26,000 entries, and are adding about ten entries a day each on the three main section). We've already moved the search functionality to a separate machine (htdig, in fact). We are still a smallish site, peaking normally around 16 to 19 requests per second -- but the peak is right when we start loading new entries (of course). Updating the site can take 20-30 minutes depending on what kind of mood MySQL is in. Compounding the problem a bit is an advertising system that is a fairly heavy user of MySQL.

First off, without considering dynamic pages just yet, are there speed benefits from moving from MT 2.661 to MT 3.3? I've got 3.2 running my personal site, but that is too small a site to make any judgements.

Second, if we moved MySQL to a separate machine (on a private network, 1000BaseT) would that provide much of a win, considering how MT works (we really just need the speed for putting up new entries)?

Third, what if we installed MT on a machine on that private network and then NFS shared the document root to the public machine (i.e. we would build the pages on a separate machine from the public webserver)?

Any other scaling tip and tricks anyone would like to share?

You may find that the Professional Network mailing list would be a better place to post this query. There are many members of the mailing list who have worked with installations on the order that you're describing.

Thanks, sorry it has been a while since I've used the forums.