Server Optimization Help

[Andreas]

1) Dedicated Server

2) Dual Xeon 2.4 Ghz
2 GB RAM
2x Maxtor 6Y080P0
(Only 1 HD currently being used.
What should be put on the 2nd HD?)
Debian Linux, Kernel Version 2.4.26
Apache 1.3.26
PHP 4.3.10
mySQL 4.1.8

3) No InnoDB

4) N/A

5)

20:53:38 up 198 days, 2:42, 1 user, load average: 1.21, 1.44, 1.53
276 processes: 275 sleeping, 1 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
CPU states: 37.6% user, 7.9% system, 0.0% nice, 54.4% idle
Mem: 2069816K total, 1838456K used, 231360K free, 46804K buffers
Swap: 1999856K total, 17808K used, 1982048K free, 1269704K cached

PID USER PRI NI SIZE RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM TIME COMMAND
1761 mysql 9 0 72964 71M 3412 S 14.6 3.5 2:15 mysqld
11524 www-data 9 0 8372 8196 5964 S 12.7 0.3 0:00 apache
11540 www-data 9 0 8412 8236 5968 S 10.7 0.3 0:00 apache
11282 www-data 9 0 8716 8540 6176 S 7.3 0.4 0:03 apache
11343 www-data 9 0 9104 8928 6580 S 7.1 0.4 0:03 apache
11387 www-data 9 0 9284 9108 5964 S 7.1 0.4 0:03 apache
3090 mysql 9 0 72964 71M 3412 S 6.9 3.5 1:31 mysqld
10693 www-data 9 0 9916 9740 7368 S 6.9 0.4 0:13 apache
11351 www-data 9 0 9240 9064 6736 S 6.5 0.4 0:03 apache
11166 www-data 9 0 9812 9636 7252 S 6.3 0.4 0:08 apache
29722 mysql 9 0 72964 71M 3412 S 5.1 3.5 3:03 mysqld
11437 www-data 9 0 8572 8396 6196 S 5.0 0.4 0:02 apache
11505 www-data 9 0 8788 8612 6264 S 4.8 0.4 0:00 apache
11512 www-data 11 0 8168 7992 5772 S 4.8 0.3 0:00 apache

6)

# You can copy this to one of:
# /etc/mysql/my.cnf to set global options,
# mysql-data-dir/my.cnf to set server-specific options (in this
# installation this directory is /var/lib/mysql) or
# ~/.my.cnf to set user-specific options.
#
# One can use all long options that the program supports.
# Run the program with --help to get a list of available options

[client]
port = 3306
socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

[mysqld]
user = mysql
pid-file = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
port = 3306
log = /var/log/mysql.log
basedir = /usr
datadir = /var/lib/mysql
tmpdir = /tmp
language = /usr/share/mysql/english
max_connections = 500
key_buffer = 16M
myisam_sort_buffer_size = 64M
join_buffer_size = 1M
read_buffer_size = 1M
sort_buffer_size = 2M
table_cache = 1024
thread_cache_size = 64
wait_timeout = 1800
connect_timeout = 10
max_allowed_packet = 16M
max_connect_errors = 10
query_cache_limit = 1M
query_cache_size = 32M
query_cache_type = 1
skip-innodb

[mysqld_safe]
err-log = /var/log/mysql/mysql.err
open_files_limit = 8192

[mysqldump]
quick
max_allowed_packet = 16M

[myisamchk]
key_buffer = 64M
sort_buffer = 64M
read_buffer = 16M
write_buffer = 16M

7)

Tue Jan 11 21:11:59 CET 2005


21:12:01 up 198 days, 3:01, 1 user, load average: 1.84, 2.07, 1.86
282 processes: 277 sleeping, 4 running, 1 zombie, 0 stopped
Mem: 2069816K total, 1897528K used, 172288K free, 50228K buffers
Swap: 1999856K total, 17772K used, 1982084K free, 1322000K cached

PID USER PRI NI SIZE RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM TIME COMMAND
29441 mysql 14 0 73776 72M 3412 R 4.7 3.5 3:03 mysqld


Http processes currently running = 2
Mysql processes currently running = 72

Netstat information summary
1 FIN_WAIT1
3 SYN_RECV
15 LISTEN
19 FIN_WAIT2
142 TIME_WAIT
166 ESTABLISHED

+--------------------------+------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+------------+
| Aborted_clients | 16 |
| Aborted_connects | 24 |
| Binlog_cache_disk_use | 0 |
| Binlog_cache_use | 0 |
| Bytes_received | 557896527 |
| Bytes_sent | 1509021164 |
| Com_admin_commands | 2 |
| Com_alter_db | 0 |
| Com_alter_table | 0 |
| Com_analyze | 0 |
| Com_backup_table | 0 |
| Com_begin | 0 |
| Com_change_db | 312228 |
| Com_change_master | 0 |
| Com_check | 0 |
| Com_checksum | 0 |
| Com_commit | 0 |
| Com_create_db | 0 |
| Com_create_function | 0 |
| Com_create_index | 0 |
| Com_create_table | 0 |
| Com_dealloc_sql | 0 |
| Com_delete | 3157 |
| Com_delete_multi | 0 |
| Com_do | 0 |
| Com_drop_db | 0 |
| Com_drop_function | 0 |
| Com_drop_index | 0 |
| Com_drop_table | 0 |
| Com_drop_user | 0 |
| Com_execute_sql | 0 |
| Com_flush | 0 |
| Com_grant | 0 |
| Com_ha_close | 0 |
| Com_ha_open | 0 |
| Com_ha_read | 0 |
| Com_help | 0 |
| Com_insert | 25989 |
| Com_insert_select | 994 |
| Com_kill | 0 |
| Com_load | 0 |
| Com_load_master_data | 0 |
| Com_load_master_table | 0 |
| Com_lock_tables | 11 |
| Com_optimize | 0 |
| Com_preload_keys | 0 |
| Com_prepare_sql | 0 |
| Com_purge | 0 |
| Com_purge_before_date | 0 |
| Com_rename_table | 0 |
| Com_repair | 0 |
| Com_replace | 10423 |
| Com_replace_select | 0 |
| Com_reset | 0 |
| Com_restore_table | 0 |
| Com_revoke | 0 |
| Com_revoke_all | 0 |
| Com_rollback | 0 |
| Com_savepoint | 0 |
| Com_select | 607762 |
| Com_set_option | 0 |
| Com_show_binlog_events | 0 |
| Com_show_binlogs | 0 |
| Com_show_charsets | 0 |
| Com_show_collations | 0 |
| Com_show_column_types | 0 |
| Com_show_create_db | 0 |
| Com_show_create_table | 0 |
| Com_show_databases | 1 |
| Com_show_errors | 0 |
| Com_show_fields | 37 |
| Com_show_grants | 0 |
| Com_show_innodb_status | 0 |
| Com_show_keys | 4 |
| Com_show_logs | 0 |
| Com_show_master_status | 0 |
| Com_show_new_master | 0 |
| Com_show_open_tables | 0 |
| Com_show_privileges | 0 |
| Com_show_processlist | 0 |
| Com_show_slave_hosts | 0 |
| Com_show_slave_status | 0 |
| Com_show_status | 1 |
| Com_show_storage_engines | 0 |
| Com_show_tables | 90 |
| Com_show_variables | 46 |
| Com_show_warnings | 0 |
| Com_slave_start | 0 |
| Com_slave_stop | 0 |
| Com_truncate | 0 |
| Com_unlock_tables | 11 |
| Com_update | 563272 |
| Com_update_multi | 0 |
| Connections | 250122 |
| Created_tmp_disk_tables | 7426 |
| Created_tmp_files | 5202 |
| Created_tmp_tables | 52340 |
| Delayed_errors | 0 |
| Delayed_insert_threads | 0 |
| Delayed_writes | 0 |
| Flush_commands | 1 |
| Handler_commit | 0 |
| Handler_delete | 20642 |
| Handler_discover | 0 |
| Handler_read_first | 93688 |
| Handler_read_key | 151723639 |
| Handler_read_next | 153929414 |
| Handler_read_prev | 1147339 |
| Handler_read_rnd | 19851616 |
| Handler_read_rnd_next | 805131849 |
| Handler_rollback | 0 |
| Handler_update | 2098695 |
| Handler_write | 31217351 |
| Key_blocks_not_flushed | 0 |
| Key_blocks_unused | 0 |
| Key_blocks_used | 14497 |
| Key_read_requests | 359181917 |
| Key_reads | 705580 |
| Key_write_requests | 867294 |
| Key_writes | 92803 |
| Max_used_connections | 84 |
| Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0 |
| Open_files | 515 |
| Open_streams | 0 |
| Open_tables | 381 | 37% of table_cache in use
| Opened_tables | 392 |
| Qcache_free_blocks | 1919 |
| Qcache_free_memory | 7522288 |
| Qcache_hits | 760412 |
| Qcache_inserts | 598800 |
| Qcache_lowmem_prunes | 6624 |
| Qcache_not_cached | 9020 |
| Qcache_queries_in_cache | 2559 |
| Qcache_total_blocks | 7957 |
| Questions | 2534718 |
| Rpl_status | NULL |
| Select_full_join | 137 |
| Select_full_range_join | 0 |
| Select_range | 75932 |
| Select_range_check | 0 |
| Select_scan | 167028 |
| Slave_open_temp_tables | 0 |
| Slave_running | OFF |
| Slow_launch_threads | 0 |
| Slow_queries | 17 | (execution time > 10 secs)
| Sort_merge_passes | 2601 |
| Sort_range | 77704 |
| Sort_rows | 204382647 |
| Sort_scan | 69413 |
| Table_locks_immediate | 1950783 |
| Table_locks_waited | 30562 |
| Threads_cached | 47 |
| Threads_connected | 17 |
| Threads_created | 84 |
| Threads_running | 3 |
| Uptime | 21759 | 6 hrs 2 mins 39 secs
+--------------------------+------------+


Key Reads/Key Read Requests = 0.001964 (Cache hit = 99.998036%)
Key Writes/Key Write Requests = 0.107003
Connections/second = 11.495 (/hour = 41382.380)
KB received/second = 25.039 (/hour = 90139.804)
KB sent/second = 67.726 (/hour = 243814.091)
Temporary Tables Created/second = 2.405 (/hour = 8659.589)
Opened Tables/second = 0.018 (/hour = 64.856)
Slow Queries/second = 0.001 (/hour = 2.813)
% of slow queries = 0.001%
Queries/second = 116.491 (/hour = 419366.000)


Now this is a bit more up to date (but currently the forums are empty, as it is 2am here)

hu Jan 13 02:13:42 CET 2005


02:13:43 up 199 days, 8:03, 0 users, load average: 0.28, 0.26, 0.23
182 processes: 181 sleeping, 1 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
Mem: 2069816K total, 1566868K used, 502948K free, 33700K buffers
Swap: 1999856K total, 88912K used, 1910944K free, 1239748K cached



Http processes currently running = 2
Mysql processes currently running = 72

Netstat information summary
15 LISTEN
23 ESTABLISHED
26 TIME_WAIT
30 FIN_WAIT2

+--------------------------+------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+------------+
| Aborted_clients | 20 |
| Aborted_connects | 127 |
| Binlog_cache_disk_use | 0 |
| Binlog_cache_use | 0 |
| Bytes_received | 2204657639 |
| Bytes_sent | 3610816378 |
| Com_admin_commands | 2 |
| Com_alter_db | 0 |
| Com_alter_table | 5 |
| Com_analyze | 0 |
| Com_backup_table | 0 |
| Com_begin | 0 |
| Com_change_db | 1217550 |
| Com_change_master | 0 |
| Com_check | 0 |
| Com_checksum | 0 |
| Com_commit | 0 |
| Com_create_db | 0 |
| Com_create_function | 0 |
| Com_create_index | 0 |
| Com_create_table | 0 |
| Com_dealloc_sql | 0 |
| Com_delete | 13716 |
| Com_delete_multi | 0 |
| Com_do | 0 |
| Com_drop_db | 0 |
| Com_drop_function | 0 |
| Com_drop_index | 0 |
| Com_drop_table | 0 |
| Com_drop_user | 0 |
| Com_execute_sql | 0 |
| Com_flush | 0 |
| Com_grant | 0 |
| Com_ha_close | 0 |
| Com_ha_open | 0 |
| Com_ha_read | 0 |
| Com_help | 0 |
| Com_insert | 102910 |
| Com_insert_select | 4017 |
| Com_kill | 0 |
| Com_load | 0 |
| Com_load_master_data | 0 |
| Com_load_master_table | 0 |
| Com_lock_tables | 24 |
| Com_optimize | 0 |
| Com_preload_keys | 0 |
| Com_prepare_sql | 0 |
| Com_purge | 0 |
| Com_purge_before_date | 0 |
| Com_rename_table | 0 |
| Com_repair | 1 |
| Com_replace | 41315 |
| Com_replace_select | 0 |
| Com_reset | 0 |
| Com_restore_table | 0 |
| Com_revoke | 0 |
| Com_revoke_all | 0 |
| Com_rollback | 0 |
| Com_savepoint | 0 |
| Com_select | 2377327 |
| Com_set_option | 0 |
| Com_show_binlog_events | 0 |
| Com_show_binlogs | 0 |
| Com_show_charsets | 0 |
| Com_show_collations | 0 |
| Com_show_column_types | 0 |
| Com_show_create_db | 0 |
| Com_show_create_table | 0 |
| Com_show_databases | 14 |
| Com_show_errors | 0 |
| Com_show_fields | 142 |
| Com_show_grants | 0 |
| Com_show_innodb_status | 0 |
| Com_show_keys | 28 |
| Com_show_logs | 0 |
| Com_show_master_status | 0 |
| Com_show_new_master | 0 |
| Com_show_open_tables | 0 |
| Com_show_privileges | 0 |
| Com_show_processlist | 5 |
| Com_show_slave_hosts | 0 |
| Com_show_slave_status | 0 |
| Com_show_status | 2 |
| Com_show_storage_engines | 0 |
| Com_show_tables | 531 |
| Com_show_variables | 242 |
| Com_show_warnings | 0 |
| Com_slave_start | 0 |
| Com_slave_stop | 0 |
| Com_truncate | 0 |
| Com_unlock_tables | 24 |
| Com_update | 2210897 |
| Com_update_multi | 10 |
| Connections | 978149 |
| Created_tmp_disk_tables | 27135 |
| Created_tmp_files | 18840 |
| Created_tmp_tables | 201040 |
| Delayed_errors | 0 |
| Delayed_insert_threads | 0 |
| Delayed_writes | 0 |
| Flush_commands | 1 |
| Handler_commit | 0 |
| Handler_delete | 92071 |
| Handler_discover | 0 |
| Handler_read_first | 371692 |
| Handler_read_key | 582838416 |
| Handler_read_next | 585582364 |
| Handler_read_prev | 7275493 |
| Handler_read_rnd | 70196676 |
| Handler_read_rnd_next | 3185431433 |
| Handler_rollback | 0 |
| Handler_update | 9667916 |
| Handler_write | 111661605 |
| Key_blocks_not_flushed | 0 |
| Key_blocks_unused | 0 |
| Key_blocks_used | 14497 |
| Key_read_requests | 1377695231 |
| Key_reads | 2524027 |
| Key_write_requests | 3276532 |
| Key_writes | 380605 |
| Max_used_connections | 263 |
| Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0 |
| Open_files | 1053 |
| Open_streams | 0 |
| Open_tables | 1024 | 100% of table_cache in use
| Opened_tables | 1848 |
| Qcache_free_blocks | 1367 |
| Qcache_free_memory | 13763072 |
| Qcache_hits | 3003758 |
| Qcache_inserts | 2338342 |
| Qcache_lowmem_prunes | 31103 |
| Qcache_not_cached | 39210 |
| Qcache_queries_in_cache | 1318 |
| Qcache_total_blocks | 4665 |
| Questions | 9951388 |
| Rpl_status | NULL |
| Select_full_join | 751 |
| Select_full_range_join | 0 |
| Select_range | 299980 |
| Select_range_check | 0 |
| Select_scan | 654466 |
| Slave_open_temp_tables | 0 |
| Slave_running | OFF |
| Slow_launch_threads | 3 |
| Slow_queries | 373 | (execution time > 10 secs)
| Sort_merge_passes | 9430 |
| Sort_range | 310557 |
| Sort_rows | 738932377 |
| Sort_scan | 265995 |
| Table_locks_immediate | 7642848 |
| Table_locks_waited | 146753 |
| Threads_cached | 61 |
| Threads_connected | 3 |
| Threads_created | 2397 |
| Threads_running | 1 |
| Uptime | 126261 | 1 day 11 hrs 4 mins 21 secs
+--------------------------+------------+


Key Reads/Key Read Requests = 0.001832 (Cache hit = 99.998168%)
Key Writes/Key Write Requests = 0.116161
Connections/second = 7.747 (/hour = 27889.344)
KB received/second = 16.610 (/hour = 59794.739)
KB sent/second = 16.610 (/hour = 59794.739)
Temporary Tables Created/second = 1.592 (/hour = 5732.126)
Opened Tables/second = 0.015 (/hour = 52.691)
Slow Queries/second = 0.003 (/hour = 10.635)
% of slow queries = 0.004%

Queries/second = 78.816 (/hour = 283737.629)


8) vBulletin, phpAdsNew and a custom portal script based on vBulletin

9) Maximum was 760, average is about 400 based on a 15 minute cookie timeout

10) http://www.planet-liebe.de/phpinfo.php

11)
KeepAlive On
MaxKeepAliveRequests 100
KeepAliveTimeout 15
MinSpareServers 5
MaxSpareServers 10
StartServers 5
MaxClients 150

12) vB3 RC3 with patches

It's getting slow when there are > 500 users, although load doesn't go over 4 and Swap isn't being used much.
Any hints to get this faster?

[eva2000]

Alot of things to do! But your my.cnf is optimal for now

1. upgrade vB to 3.0.5 as from 3.0.3 onwards new improved code to increase performance!
2. however, with 400-760 users based on 900s default cookie timeout you're looking at probably needing to split to a 2nd server so 1 web and 1 database server. But i'd like to see the mysql extended-status after 24-48hrs as right now your mysql stats only show 6+ hrs uptime not enough to accurately indicate your current server loads etc
3. general things that can improve performance - every bit helps
- upgrade to 2.6.x latest stable smp linux kernel
- upgrade to Apache 2.0.x latest stable version compiled as prefork mpm worker
- turn off or on persistent connections in phpads and take note of server loads and see which is better on/off
- portal script ? which one is it hacked/tied into vB ? if so please note we do not officially provide support for hacked forums
4. increase query_cache_size to 64M and key_buffer to 64M and restart mysql server
5. how large is your forum database ?

[Andreas]

Some of the improved code from newer versions is already patched in
That's what I feared
Unfortunately we can't afford two servers - this setup already costs approx. 550 EUR/month
So for the moment (at least for the next 6-9 month) we're stuck with this server.
Would more RAM (I though about another 2 GB) help?

The hosting company upgraded mySQL 2 days ago without giving prior notice, so the status output showed only 6hrs.
I've also included a newer snapshot in the first post
New kernel and Apache ... I've told the hosting provider to upgrade Apache several month ago but they diclined: "Apache 1.3 is stable ..."
I'm gonna try to test the impacts of turning persistent connections in phpAdsNew on/off.
What about for vBulletin itself?
The portal software is custom, somewhat based on vBAdvanced Homepage.
I know that hacked boards are not supported ;)
OK, i'll tell teh hosting provider to do so
The database is 1.104 MB with 585.6 MB indexes

[eva2000]

to be honest i'd change hosting providers

1. too expensive!
2. requested work/service not done!

check out theplanet.com for that price you're paying you could get 2-5 dual xeon cpu servers with scsi disks and HEAP load of bandwidth and free server managerment/update plans!

[Andreas]

Well, as I do not own the site this is not my decision.

The price is a bit high, but not that uncommon (the server is leased, not rented).
And one big plus is that we never had problems with availibity since almost 3 years, and the support reacts within 15 minutes.
So far they did everything we wanted - except the Apache upgrade.

As for theplanet.com: This is not an option was we need a provider in Germany.

Thanks for your support, it is highly appreciated :)

[Zachery]

You could get abit nier server today for about 300-400 USD which is maybe 50 less in EUR.

Is it possible to move mysql to its own disk?

[Andreas]

Sorry for me being dumb, but what is a "abit nier server"?

Moving the mysql data directory to the 2nd HD should be possible (filesystems are ext3).
Would you recommend that?

[Zachery]

I ment nicer keyboards getting old :)

if there is less overall trafic on that drive mysql should preform better as there is nothing else on it.

Anyway

http://www.theplanet.com/control/pro/p2800s_details.html

:) stock that is nicer than what you have for quite abit less.

[Andreas]

OK, after speaking with the provider they will thange the mySQL-Configuration, Kernel and move the database to the 2nd HD.

But they stongly recommend not upgrading to Apache2, as the performance is worse then Apache1.
I've made some researches on Google and several sites pointed out that Apache1 is slower on PHP then Apache1.

So what to do?

@Zachery
That's nice, but as said this is a leased server and we have to stick with it for at least another 1 1/2 years.
theplanet.com is in the US, but as > 90% of the visitors come from Germany we need a host in Germany.

[Zachery]

This server is hosted in the US Do you really notice any difference when compared to your server which is ni germany?

Apache 2 awhile ago was abit slower, I know scott does his testing on apache 2 and we do use apache 2 here.

If they wont upgrade you to apache 2 just make sure they get you upgraded to the newest version of 1

[eva2000]

depends on how apache 2 was compiled i think ... apache 2.0.x latest compiled as prefork mpm worker works best for web serving it seems

[Andreas]

*bump*

If we split this into two servers (one for the database and one as frontend), which minimum specs would be required for each machine to handle up to 1.000 concurrent users smoothly?

[Zachery]

For that many users george generaly recomends some fairly beefy servers.

[Andreas]

> some fairly beefy servers
What does that mean in #/type of HDs, RAM, CPU(s)?

[eva2000]

*bump*

If we split this into two servers (one for the database and one as frontend), which minimum specs would be required for each machine to handle up to 1.000 concurrent users smoothly?
minimum to handle such activity and admining and maintaining of a forum based on the assumption of size of forum database that accompanies such activity the following would be bare minimum specs

1 web server
dual p4 3.06ghz 533fsb Xeon
3GB ram
fast 15k rpm scsi disks raid 10
dual gigabit network cards

1 database server

dual p4 3.06ghz 533fsb Xeon
4GB ram
fast 15k rpm scsi disks raid 10

or better yet for db server

dual AMD opteron 244 or 246 cpus
4GB ram
fast 15k rpm scsi disks raid 10

PHP 4.3.10 compiled from source
Turck Mmcache
Apache 2.0.x latest compiled prefork mpm worker
latest stable smp linux 2.6.x kernel
MySQL 4.0.23 installed from rpm binary

and tweaked my.cnf by yours truly :D

assumption that 1,000 vB users is based on 50/50 member to guest ratio

[Andreas]

Hmm, why does the webserver need that fast HDs?

The PHP and JS-Files should be in cache, we don't have attachments, avatars & profile pictures do come from the database.
So the only disk activity would be caused by writing the log file and images (icons, smilies, etc.)

Or am I wrong?

[BamaStangGuy]

Hmm, why does the webserver need that fast HDs?

The PHP and JS-Files should be in cache, we don't have attachments, avatars & profile pictures do come from the database.
So the only disk activity would be caused by writing the log file and images (icons, smilies, etc.)

Or am I wrong?
Everything is on your harddrives, databases, your web files, everything and they have to be accessed constantly and sent out to others over the internet.

The faster your harddrives and with scsi the more "bandwidth" you have per say and you wont run into in bottleknecking

[Andreas]

Everything is on your harddrives, databases, your web files, everything and they have to be accessed constantly
Erm ... no ;)
The database would be on another server, that's why I am asking.

[BamaStangGuy]

Erm ... no ;)
The database would be on another server, that's why I am asking.
1 database server

dual p4 3.06ghz 533fsb Xeon
4GB ram
fast 15k rpm scsi disks raid 10

and the database is accessed the most by vbulletin righhtttttt?

and the database would be on the harddrive.... righhhttt

so you are storing the database on a harddrive.........

which is what I said here:

Everything is on your harddrives, databases,

;)

[Andreas]

Yes, but the database is on the harddrives of the database server.

Therefore I asked if the webserver does need a that fast hd setup :)
Because if (Non-RAID) SATA would be enough for that if would become a lot cheaper.

[eva2000]

Hmm, why does the webserver need that fast HDs?

The PHP and JS-Files should be in cache, we don't have attachments, avatars & profile pictures do come from the database.
So the only disk activity would be caused by writing the log file and images (icons, smilies, etc.)

Or am I wrong? trust me 1,000+ vb users over default cookie time still does take up alot of web server/apache resources on any php/mysql forum not just vB

my own forums shares with another large vB forum and together 200-400 users my forum 900+ k posts + 1200-1800 users online on larger vB forum with 5-7+ million posts, need 2 server setup which consist of dual p4 3.06ghz xeons with 3GB ram on web and 4GB ram on db servers - together both forums pump out 10-11,000+ new posts/day