A WebView is a web page automatically created from base datatypically stored in a DBMS. Given the multi-tiered architecture behinddatabase-backed web servers, we have the option of materializing aWebView inside the DBMS, at the web server, or not at all, alwayscomputing it on the fly (virtual). Since WebViews must be up to date,materialized WebViews are immediately refreshed with every update onthe base data.

In this paper we compare the three materializationpolicies (materialized inside the DBMS, materialized at the web serverand virtual) analytically, through a detailed cost model, andquantitatively, through extensive experiments on an implementedsystem. Our results indicate that materializing at the web server is amore scalable solution and can facilitate an order of magnitude moreusers than the virtual and materialized inside the DBMS policies, evenunder high update workloads.