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LeeS
Sun 17th Mar '02, 6:43am
We're rapidly outgrowing the rented RaQ4 we're on at the moment, so I'm wanting to move our forums to something better. A friend of mine has a 43U rack at ClaraNET UK in which he has pledged as many U's as we need and free unlimited bandwidth. This takes care of the bandwidth and other costs (such as power, space rent etc.) The only thing we need to consider is the hardware. This is where I'd really like your input. :)

I'm edging towards a 2-server setup, one for the db, one for the webserver and a 100mbit cross-over ethernet connection between the two. Would this be preferred to a single server setup? What kind of hardware works best? How much ram? I'd like to go for a RAID 1 (or 0,1 where possible for the best drive performance and security.)

We're on a very budget, it is after all only a hobby site. We're currently running at:

Threads: 9,901 | Posts: 110,813 | PMs: 20,143 | Members: 1883

Around 800 new posts per day and growing steadily. We've reached 103 active members at once before now on the old RaQ and the server grunted and nearly died. :p

Your input is greatly appreciated. :)

LeeS
Tue 19th Mar '02, 6:52pm
no input at all? :confused:

nuno
Tue 19th Mar '02, 7:18pm
it's your $$ after all, but i think that's more than enough for a board like yours :rolleyes:

eva2000
Wed 20th Mar '02, 7:20am
Originally posted by LeeS
We're rapidly outgrowing the rented RaQ4 we're on at the moment, so I'm wanting to move our forums to something better. A friend of mine has a 43U rack at ClaraNET UK in which he has pledged as many U's as we need and free unlimited bandwidth. This takes care of the bandwidth and other costs (such as power, space rent etc.) The only thing we need to consider is the hardware. This is where I'd really like your input. :)

I'm edging towards a 2-server setup, one for the db, one for the webserver and a 100mbit cross-over ethernet connection between the two. Would this be preferred to a single server setup? What kind of hardware works best? How much ram? I'd like to go for a RAID 1 (or 0,1 where possible for the best drive performance and security.)

We're on a very budget, it is after all only a hobby site. We're currently running at:

Threads: 9,901 | Posts: 110,813 | PMs: 20,143 | Members: 1883

Around 800 new posts per day and growing steadily. We've reached 103 active members at once before now on the old RaQ and the server grunted and nearly died. :p

Your input is greatly appreciated. :) friends are great, but how close a friend ?

you'd probably be fine with a single server setup something like

Pentium 3 1.26ghz tualatin with 512k L2 cache
1GB ram
2 x 18gb scsi hdd - one drive dedicated to mysql's data files
RH 7.2
2.4.18 kernel
PHP 4.1.2 compiled with gd and zlib support
MySQL 3.23.49a
PHP Accelerator 1.2p3

that should do you very comfortably to begin with