Direct Connect vs SDE service connection::..Case of web application

[RolaElhassan]

Hi all,

What is better SDE service connection or Direct connection?

Sde service is installed on a server. Connection to geodatabase is requested by different clients such as arcCatalog or web application�?�.
1-Case of arccatalog:
Arccatalog may be installed on same server or on remote client machine.
In case arcCatalog is installed on remote client machine, the question of Direct connect vc Sde service is a quetsion of moving the connection bottle neck(load) from server(case sde service) to client where arcCatalog is installed (case of direct connect).

Esri says that Sde service is faster however you should consider that in case of SDE service, an additional tier is added.

2-case of web application
such as  a flex application that connect to GISServer using ArcGIS Flex API, What would be better?
It's not a question of moving bottle neck from server to client since the connection is done within GIS Server and not arccatalog. Is Sde service conenction better in this case?

Thank you for your thoughtfulness!

[VinceAngelo]

There is no correct answer to this question. For some users, Direct Connect will be the best
solution. For others in the same exact configuration, an application service may be. The best
methodology is to choose one, get a feel for the performance characteristics, then use the other
to compare. Note that you may need to revisit the problem if the number of clients changes
by more than 50% (maybe even 10%).

- V