Time to buy a server (or two) and go colo? Need advice/assistance

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  • djwins
    New Member
    • Jan 2004
    • 21

    Time to buy a server (or two) and go colo? Need advice/assistance

    I have vB forum that peaks at 500-600 users online.
    The site is run on a dual xeon processor server with 1GB ram and an IDE drive, but I realize that is no longer sufficient. This is a rental server from Superb, I do not own it.

    Can anyone give me some advice on if it makes sense to purchase one or more servers and go the colo route and where would be a good place to purchase said servers?

    I realize that purchasing is an expensive proposition, but I am in it for the long haul.

    Thanks in advance!
  • Mythotical
    Senior Member
    • May 2004
    • 234
    • 5.6.4

    #2
    Purchase your servers from Dell, then once you get it or them, contact globaldc.com about colocation, they are reasonable with pricing and they can upgrade your harddrive for about $50-$100 which is very good. I have a server with them, but I also have a reseller account with valvehosting.com. So either place would suffice for your needs.

    Comment

    • djwins
      New Member
      • Jan 2004
      • 21

      #3
      Anyone want to help spec out a new server?
      Whats the best HD configuration, etc...

      Comment

      • Zachery
        Former vBulletin Support
        • Jul 2002
        • 59097

        #4
        Well, honestly you are looking for a single server of

        Dual 2.8ghz Xeons (or better)
        2 GB of ram (or 3-4)
        2-3 SCSI drives, one for the OS and web files, one for mysql, and one for backups, not in any raid array. (unless you want to mirror the mysql drive).
        And a decent backbone.

        You could go further and use a 2 server setup with about the same config, one for mysql alone, and one for web / backups.

        Comment

        • djwins
          New Member
          • Jan 2004
          • 21

          #5
          I probably should have mentioned that I am thinking about keeping my existing server (a rental) and purchasing an additional one, with the new one housing the mySQL.

          Comment

          • mvigod
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2001
            • 226

            #6
            Why buy or colo? We went that route and it makes little sense. Go to Rackspace.com or theplanet.com and get yourself a beefy server. They will support it if any hardware fails with a very rapid replacement. Pricing will be better at theplanet.com. You can also check out servermatrix.com. Tons of bandwidth and you can get plenty of RAM, RAID, whatever.

            If you really want to do it right and expect to continue to grow then get 2 servers. One front end and on dedicated DB server to split the load.
            Marc
            -------

            Comment

            • djwins
              New Member
              • Jan 2004
              • 21

              #7
              Originally posted by mvigod
              Why buy or colo? We went that route and it makes little sense. Go to Rackspace.com or theplanet.com and get yourself a beefy server. They will support it if any hardware fails with a very rapid replacement. Pricing will be better at theplanet.com. You can also check out servermatrix.com. Tons of bandwidth and you can get plenty of RAM, RAID, whatever.

              If you really want to do it right and expect to continue to grow then get 2 servers. One front end and on dedicated DB server to split the load.
              I really need two servers (I think) and each of them are going to cost about $450 each a month or I rent.

              It will cost $125 for each server colo at a top provider for 1500gb bandwidth per month.


              Check out these specs:



              TOTAL:$1,665.00

              PowerEdge 1800
              Intel® Xeon™ processor at 3.0GHz/2MB Cache, 800MHz FSB
              Operating System
              No Operating System
              Additional Processor
              Intel® Xeon™ processor at 3.0GHz/2MB Cache, 800MHz FSB
              Memory
              2GB DDR2 400MHz (4X512MB), Single Ranked DIMMs
              Keyboard
              Standard Windows Keyboard,Gray
              Monitor
              No Monitor Option
              Primary Hard Drive
              40GB 7.2K RPM SATA Hard Drive
              Primary Controller
              CERC 6-Channel SATA RAID Controller
              Floppy Drive
              No Floppy Drive
              Mouse
              Logitech PS/2 2-button Mouse with Scroll
              Network Adapter
              Onboard NIC
              CD/DVD Drive
              48X IDE CD-ROM
              Documentation
              Electronic Documentation and OpenManage CD Kit
              2nd Hard Drive
              40GB 7.2K RPM SATA Hard Drive
              Hard Drive Configuration
              Add-in SATA card RAID 5, Minimum 3 drives required
              Chassis Configuration
              Tower Style Chassis
              Hardware Support Services
              3Yr BASIC NBD: L1 Hardware Queue, Next Business Day Onsite M-F 8am-6pm
              Installation Support Services
              No Installation Assessment
              Power Supply
              Non-Redundant Power Supply
              4th Hard Drive
              40GB 7.2K RPM SATA Hard Drive
              3rd Hard Drive
              40GB 7.2K RPM SATA Hard Drive
              Mail- In Rebate
              None
              Technical Sales Representative Contact
              Yes

              Last edited by djwins; Tue 26 Jul '05, 2:31pm.

              Comment

              • mvigod
                Senior Member
                • Nov 2001
                • 226

                #8
                so you are looking at $3200 plus $250 per month. If you go to theplanet.com you will get 2000GB/mo and pay maybe $500/mo or $600/mo for both I'm guessing. At end of year 1 you are looking at $6200 if you buy the servers and colo vs $6000 or so at a hosted solution (these are your own "leased" dedicated servers remember with full root access). If anything goes wrong they will repair/replace for you which is nice (we've blown drives and nice to not have to drive to datacenter in middle of night and spend few hundred on hardware). I'd never purchase servers and put them in colo again with the prices these guys are leasing this stuff for these days.
                Marc
                -------

                Comment

                • djwins
                  New Member
                  • Jan 2004
                  • 21

                  #9
                  Thank you very much for your response. I appreciate you taking the time to help me.
                  Are you currently using theplanet for your impressive RC site?

                  Comment

                  • Zachery
                    Former vBulletin Support
                    • Jul 2002
                    • 59097

                    #10
                    I am currently hosted at theplanet with a server similiar to vBulletin.com (which is also here)

                    Comment

                    • ManagerJosh
                      Senior Member
                      • Jun 2002
                      • 9922

                      #11
                      Steadfast Networks -> www.steadfastnetworks.com Really good people there
                      ManagerJosh, Owner of 4 XenForo Licenses, 1 vBulletin Legacy License, 1 Internet Brands Suite License
                      Director, WorldSims.org | Gaming Hosting Administrator, SimGames.net, Urban Online Entertainment

                      Comment

                      • djwins
                        New Member
                        • Jan 2004
                        • 21

                        #12
                        Well, certainly having vbulletin.com has a customer bodes very well for ThePlanet
                        Can you tell us the specs and number of servers or is that top secret?

                        Anyone got any Promotional Codes

                        I am thinking of going with one dual 2.8 xeon server with 3GB of ram and 3xSCSI hard drives. I think I should be able to run the site on that and I can always add an additional server later.

                        I am making the assumption that increased RAM and SCSI Drives will be a significant improvement over my 1GB and IDE drive.
                        Last edited by djwins; Wed 27 Jul '05, 7:09am.

                        Comment

                        • Zachery
                          Former vBulletin Support
                          • Jul 2002
                          • 59097

                          #13
                          vB.com runs on a dual xeon with scsi drives and 4gb of ram I believe.

                          When you get the install order make sure you request a custom paritioning scheme, you have 3 disks, you don't want them to be made useless

                          /boot /dev/sda1 (100-256mb)
                          swap /dev/sda2 (1-4gb)
                          /tmp /dev/sda3 (1-5gb) (having temp have its own parition means it can be secured, having a large temp is better)
                          / /dev/sda4 (everything else)
                          /var /dev/sdb1 (for mysql, might as well let it have everything
                          /backups /dev/sdc1 (obivious I think )

                          Comment

                          • Spacefreak2
                            New Member
                            • Jul 2005
                            • 12
                            • 3.0.7

                            #14
                            Does theplanet.com (or any other reputable host) offer any vBulletin-centric tech services?

                            As a new vBulleting user, I am fine modifying the forums, managing forums, users, etc... but when it comes down to setting up multiple servers, load balancing, etc - I can't be spending my time learning, experimenting, racing through support forums desperately looking for answers, etc...I've got forums and communities to run.

                            I want a hosting solution where all that stuff can be taken care of by a staff experienced with vB hosting. I understand that I'll have to pay a premium for my hosting services.

                            Any recommendations?

                            EDIT: Basically, I'd like a kick-butt, turnkey vB hosting solution. If it could be scalable, that's great. But I don't want to have to design the hosting solution, configure the servers, or make all those server adjustments that I see in countless support threads, etc. (because I'm not qualified or interested in all the ins-and-outs of hosting).

                            Similar to my shared hosting plans, I'd like to be able to just upload the files and work the forums.
                            Last edited by Spacefreak2; Sat 30 Jul '05, 7:21am.

                            Comment

                            • splooge
                              Senior Member
                              • Mar 2001
                              • 215

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Zachery
                              vB.com runs on a dual xeon with scsi drives and 4gb of ram I believe.

                              When you get the install order make sure you request a custom paritioning scheme, you have 3 disks, you don't want them to be made useless

                              /boot /dev/sda1 (100-256mb)
                              swap /dev/sda2 (1-4gb)
                              /tmp /dev/sda3 (1-5gb) (having temp have its own parition means it can be secured, having a large temp is better)
                              / /dev/sda4 (everything else)
                              /var /dev/sdb1 (for mysql, might as well let it have everything
                              /backups /dev/sdc1 (obivious I think )
                              He has a raid controller for redundancy. This is NOT the way you want to go.

                              Since you've got 4 drives, go with a raid 10 setup. This will give you the best results on HA (high availability) and performance. With 4-40 gig drives you will end up with an 80-gig raid 10. (Striping over mirrored sets).

                              Partition like this, assuming 80 gigs:

                              /dev/hda1 / 512m
                              /dev/hda2 swap 2048m
                              /dev/hda3 /boot 512m
                              /dev/hda4 <extended>
                              /dev/hda5 /tmp 512m
                              /dev/hda6 /var 35g
                              /dev/hda7 /usr 35g

                              A really anal sql admin would get a pair of mirrored 15k scsi drives to mount /var on. /var is where most of the reading and writing goes on in a lot of 'nix's... sql db's, mail spools, web logs, etc.

                              /dev/hda6 & 7 are really up to you. I link my /home to /usr/home so I don't end up with more partitions than I need. Remember also, that be default, MySQL databases are stored in /var. So you want enough room to grow there.
                              Last edited by splooge; Mon 1 Aug '05, 7:04pm.

                              Comment

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