Chat application performance, mysql or socket server

[eutu9]

Hi guys!

 

I have to develop a chat application (the client application has to be flash), and I can see 2 methods of doing it:

1.) using mysql database and PHP files to insert and read data (XML output)

2.) creating a socket server, that listens on a specified port and keeps a connection alive

 

I think the Mysql database approach would using up a lot of resources, in this case I have to make at least one query per second per user (and this is a lot when are hundreds/thousands of users online).

 

The socket server approach is more elegant and since the server keeps a continuous connection and I would not have to check every second for new text, I can just push it to the client. The problem is that my deadline is coming soon and there is way more work to do with this solution.

 

The mysql server/socket server will be hosted on a dedicated host.

 

 

Can you help me decide?

Will the mysql based solution work well on a dedicated server? Is the socket server based solution better?

 

Thank you in advance!