php - standard method to get notfication from database on change/insertion

Question

I am curently trying to make a chat application aimed at 1000-1500 users. What currently happens is once my webpage loads I make an ajax request every second to check if there is anything new in the database. I want to know if this is the standard practise or if there is a more efficient way to be notified by the server somehow when an insertion occurs.

Answer 1

Use WebSockets. Or at the very least AJAX polling. Firing a request every second from 1500 clients will most likely kill your server.

Look at http://socket.io/ if you are open to introduce something new to your stack. But there are PHP websocket solutions out there if you are limited to PHP.