Dual Server Question.

[Primal Rage]

When one has 2 servers, and one is more powerfull then the other. Which server should run the mysql and which should run the apache..

In my case i have a 600 Mb database, but have 5 gigs in atachements in the filesystem.

Thanx

[eva2000]

depends on specific hardware specs of both servers as well as your web traffic as you usually if the db server is adequate for mysql loads, then then the web server would be the one most likely to be overloaded...

if db server is inadequate, then db server would be more loaded

best to post info asked at http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70117 for both servers

[Primal Rage]

Server 1: We have previously discussed it Here (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142708)
Quick Hardware specs:
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2800+
2048MB RAM
120GB EIDE non raid
Apache: 1.3.33
PHP version: 4.4.0
MySQL version: 4.0.20

Server 2: Nothing installed on it as I have not rented yet but here are hardware specs:
AMD Sempron 3400+ 64bit
2048 DDR RAM
120 GB HD ( not sure if IDE or not )

I really should get away from the company i am dealing with, they might not have the best hardware but the support has been decent.

[eva2000]

well that's an old thread, should really provide the latest stats for question #6 and #7 as to ascertain your current loads as it could of increased since last time..

both those servers aren't ideal really - not having seen much performance reports on sempron doesn't help me much either...

[Primal Rage]

well that's an old thread, should really provide the latest stats for question #6 and #7 as to ascertain your current loads as it could of increased since last time..

both those servers aren't ideal really - not having seen much performance reports on sempron doesn't help me much either...
ok lets forget the whole dual server thing, instead can you tell me/recomend what would be an ideal server specs to be able to run a forum that has on average 400 users online every night and peaks on some days of 1000-1200.

I am not looking for it to be just as fast with 1200 as it would be with 400, but i am wanting it to be where i will not have to wait 1 minute for a page to load :)

What do you think of something like this :

2x AMD Opteron 246
4 GB RAM
250 GB SATA

#6:

[mysqld]
skip-innodb
max_connections = 650
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 = 900
connect_timeout = 10
tmp_table_size = 32M
max_allowed_packet = 16M
max_connect_errors = 10
query_cache_limit = 1M
query_cache_size = 32M
query_cache_type = 1
query_prealloc_size = 16384
query_alloc_block_size = 16384

[mysqld_safe]
open_files_limit = 8192

[mysqldump]
quick
max_allowed_packet = 16M

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

as for #7 i tried your suggestion using mysqlreport command and all i get is the error:

DBI connect(':localhost','root',...) failed: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2) at ./mysqlreport line 72
Died at ./mysqlreport line 72.

[eva2000]

you might need to run with

./mysqlreport --all -tab --user mysqlusername --password mysqlpassword

As to your server requirements for 1200+ vB users over default cookie timeout of 900 seconds you'd really use anywhere between 300-1000 mysql concurrent connections

Depending on the distribution pattern of those 1200 vB users

i.e. 1200 users all on within 1 min is alot more taxing then say 1200 users spread out over the full 900 seconds... but both will show 1200 vB users online

to handle the higher end usage distribution you will need at least 2x dual cpu servers one for web and one for mysql

if you only had access to intel based cpus you will need at least

Dual Intel Pentium 3.6ghz Xeons
4GB minimum on web/db and ideally 8GB ram on db server
fast 15k rpm scsi disks in raid 10 on db server
10k rpm scsi disks on web server
64bit linux operating system to address >4GB of memory

the more ideal setup for this would be dual opterons http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=160103 due to performance to price ratio

dual AMD64 opteron 250 with same drive/ram config as intel, would be around 70% of the price of dual intel 3.6ghz xeons and still beat the 3.6ghz xeons in terms of apache and mysql performance

If you check pricewatch, AMD cut prices on opteron cpus recently you can get dual opteron 265/270 (quad cpu cores) for price of p4 intel 3.6ghz xeons!!!!

remember this is bare minimum i would run if my forums hit 1,200 vB users online... sweet spot would be dual opteron 270 cpus right now

this would be for a vB forum only server, if you plan to host other sites and apps using php/mysql then the distribution patterns of usage would differ so can't really say how it would fair

edit: oh and goes without saying they'd need to be properly tuned and configured for best performance :)

[Primal Rage]

Wow, i honestly don't think I can afford that right now. I mean i am happy with the performance right now, execpt when we peak, the server load just goes to the moon. ( peaks are occuring 1-2 times a month) other then that we float around the 400 users online, with cookie set at 1200.

Funds are a little limited these days :( , none the less whatever I decide to do I will contact you for server optmization.

Thank you for your words of wisdom.

[eva2000]

Yeah limited finances is always a problem ... good thing is you can still better bang for your buck with dual opterons than dual p4 intel xeon cpus

2x dual opteron 244 or 246
2GB ram, with raid 10 sata or scsi disks

one for web and one for mysql would offer a good compromise

dedicatednow.com offers near similar specs for <US$300/mo each