Re: Cost-effective servers
On Mon, 28 Oct 1996 Michael_Laing@Harvard.edu wrote:
> Obviously we need more 'oomph' in the server(s). The questions are simply:
> . One server or more than one
> . SCSI or IDE
>
> I.e, given a few thousand bucks, how to get the most server bang!
If i were in your situation and had the funds to buy another
server, i'd split off the internet server functions (email, www, proxy,
ftp, user accounts etc) from the file server functions (netatalk).
However, one server is enough for what you're doing, as long as it's
fast :-). Upgrading the existing server so that it is more than capable
of performing both sets of functions is IMO much more cost effective.
The best thing you could do is get more memory - it's the cheapest and
most effective upgrade for your server that you could possibly get. 16MB
isn't enough, especially if you're running X or a few large programs.
Upgrade RAM to at least 32MB - or why not 64MB. Memory is cheap these
days and linux will use every single byte of it - whatever isn't needed
by running programs is dynamically used to buffer the disks.
You can go over 64MB too, if you want...but you'll have to increase the
size of the 2nd level cache ram. Most motherboards come with 256K cache
which is sufficient for up to 64MB. Upgrade to 512k cache if you have
more than 64MB.
IDE is fine on a PCI bus if you only have one or two drives - but speed
(& reliability, in my experience!) really suffers when you have more
than that. You're also limited to 4 drives total, including ATAPI tape &
CD drives.
If you want more than 4 drives, or want to use any of the new huge high
speed drives you will need SCSI. An Adaptec 2940 works well. An NCR
53c810 works almost as well at about a third of the price of the 2940.
e.g. a Pentium with 64MB, an adaptec 2940, and a couple of Seagate
Barracuda SCSI drives will really fly along.
IDE is fine if you're on a tight budget or speed isn't your highest
priority...but remember IDE's origins: IDE was a crap standard whose
primary goal was to make cheap crap drives even cheaper & crappier for
the consumer market. IDE has come a long way since then, and on a PCI
bus is actually reasonably good...BUT you really can't beat SCSI for
speed & reliability.
Craig
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