LAMP as Internet Banking software

richie

This is one of those topics that belongs in every category. So forgive me if I've placed it in the wrong spot.

If one wants to build an online version of a bank (webonize it 🙂), would LAMP be a viable set to consider using?

What other sets are better than LAMP?

TIA.

NogDog

I think there is nothing wrong with the "LA" portion. However, I'd probably want to go with a bit more robust DBMS, such as PostgreSQL or else Oracle if the dollars are not an issue. While I personally think that PHP could handle the scripting side, I might be more inclined to look into a Java (JSP) solution as I would want to hire some top-notch developers who understand the security and financial issues, and my guess is most of them would want to work in Java and/or C++. But if you can get some good PHP developers who understand those issues, I think you could come up with a good "LAPP" solution. 🙂

Weedpacket

Chances are good that the bank already has a database (that's pretty much all banks are these days), and it would be overwhelmingly more likely to be Oracle than MySQL.

mblack0508

NogDog;10924071 wrote:
I think there is nothing wrong with the "LA" portion. However, I'd probably want to go with a bit more robust DBMS, such as PostgreSQL or else Oracle if the dollars are not an issue. While I personally think that PHP could handle the scripting side, I might be more inclined to look into a Java (JSP) solution as I would want to hire some top-notch developers who understand the security and financial issues, and my guess is most of them would want to work in Java and/or C++. But if you can get some good PHP developers who understand those issues, I think you could come up with a good "LAPP" solution. 🙂

Every language has security holes, its called the developer. I remember for a while, not sure if they still do, capitalone used to use php. There are other banks that use it too, just cant think off the top of my head. Even if you're going to use Java, I wouldnt use jsp I'd go with servlets.

NogDog

mblack0508;10924089 wrote:
Every language has security holes, its called the developer. I remember for a while, not sure if they still do, capitalone used to use php. There are other banks that use it too, just cant think off the top of my head. Even if you're going to use Java, I wouldnt use jsp I'd go with servlets.

Yep, I was in no way meaning to imply that PHP is or is not more insecure than Java (or anything else); just that my suspicion is that if you go after the best developers who are the most likely to not create security holes, the likelihood is that PHP would not be their language of choice and that Java, C++, C#.NET, etc. would be their preferred weapon of choice. Therefore I might be inclined to base my language choice on the likelihood of having the best choice of developers to do my implementation.

What I would really do, though, is find a lead developer/system analyst with experience in banking software, and work with him/her to select the "best" platform based on requirements, budget, existing hardware/software, existing developer pool and likely hires, etc. 🙂

richie

You're right about oracle/postgresql.

I saw a comparison online:

On Transactions, oracle and posgresql "A", mysql "D".

On Stored procedures and triggers, oracle and posgresql "A", mysql "C".

Although, I couldn't ascertain the age of the comparison. Since mysql is evolving all the time, it may have improved in those areas.

Yahoo does use mysql for yahoo finance though.

It all boils down to security. And ultimately, the coder's knowledge level is a factor in how secure a site is.

mblack0508

NogDog;10924093 wrote:
Yep, I was in no way meaning to imply that PHP is or is not more insecure than Java (or anything else); just that my suspicion is that if you go after the best developers who are the most likely to not create security holes, the likelihood is that PHP would not be their language of choice and that Java, C++, C#.NET, etc. would be their preferred weapon of choice. Therefore I might be inclined to base my language choice on the likelihood of having the best choice of developers to do my implementation.

What I would really do, though, is find a lead developer/system analyst with experience in banking software, and work with him/her to select the "best" platform based on requirements, budget, existing hardware/software, existing developer pool and likely hires, etc. 🙂

The business in most cases drives what technologies are used. I could go on and on about how the corporate politics work out to have one technology used over the other. In most cases it can be boiled down to who is playing golf with who, or who thinks one technology is better. PHP has a bad rap because of bad developers not understanding security.

In terms of online banking, PHP can do everything Java could do and probably with less resources and overhead. The only issue that I know right now, which I'm sure there is a solution but I just dont know it, is that session replication to other servers in the event that one goes down. Java has some solutions but its specific to the application servers.