Server Quotes

[Luke Schierer]

On Tue, Jun 12, 2007 at 02:15:26AM -0500, Mark Doliner wrote:
> On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 12:23:03 -0400, Luke Schierer wrote
> > On Fri, May 25, 2007 at 12:18:14PM -0400, Luke Schierer wrote:
> > > On Thu, May 24, 2007 at 02:31:00PM -0400, Luke Schierer wrote:
> > > > From Kevin's company:
> > > > I can get the following system for $80/month:
> > > > 
> > > > Pentium 4 3.0GHz (Hyperthreading)
> > > > 2 x 120 GB IDE hard drives (software RAID 1)
> > > > 4 GB DDR400
> > > > 10 Mbit/s Steadfast Value Network bandwidth (Telia, PCCW, nLayer, Local
> > > > Chicago Peering, Savvis)
> > > > Any Linux
> > > > Remote Reboot Outlet Control
> > > > 
> > > > This would require that a link / small logo be placed on the site (in
> > > > the footer of the web site would be fine), mentioning hosting services
> > > > provided by Steadfast Networks, linking to steadfast.net.
> > > > 
> > > > Without the link the system (mostly due to bandwidth) would run
> > > > $230/month, or $300 setup and then $170/month.
> > > > 
> > > > From Server Beach:
> > > > * AMD Athlon™ XP 2600
> > > > * 1GB RAM
> > > > * 2 x 80GB HD
> > > > * 2000GB monthly transfer
> > > > 
> > > > This would be $119/month.
> > > > 
> > > > Rackspace is about $400, the specs I was given were vague.
> > > > * AMD proc
> > > > * 1 GB ram
> > > > * 1x HD
> > > > * 1TB/month
> > > > 
> > > > Richard's company:
> > > > * Xeon 2.8 GHz 
> > > > * 4 GB of DDR-333 
> > > > * 4x Seagate Barracuda SATA II drives with RAID (240 GB of usable space,
> pre-formatting, with RAID5)
> > > > * roughly $200/month at our standard rates
> > > > * Bandwidth probably extra.
> > > > 
> > > > On the other hand, if we want to buy a server, the place I host at,
> > > > pulltheplug.com, has
> > > > * 1U rack space (standard unit of measure for a rack mounted server.
> > > >   Servers are generally 1U, 2U, or 3U.  1U require special heat sinks,
> > > >   while 3U and bigger require extra fans).
> > > > * Remote reboot
> > > > * serial port
> > > > * 1mbit rate limited traffic
> > > > * $85/month.
> > > > downside: a rack mount server is $1000 to $2000 or so.  6 months ago, I
> > > > paid $1600 for 2x 2Ghz Opterons, 4G ram, and 4x 120Gb hard disks.
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > luke
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Nathan asked about our current bandwidth usage.  Unfortunately, I only
> > > have port-level mrtg, not per-IP stats.  We usually have about
> > > 700kbits/sec, with spikes ranging from ~2000kbits/sec to nearly
> > > 4.4Mbits/sec.  Most spikes are less than 1400kbits/sec.  All are very
> > > short in duration, a single datapoint or so.
> > > 
> > > I've put the graphs at ~lschiere/day.png ~lschiere/week.png and
> > > ~lschiere/month.png (on the web server).
> > > 
> > > luke
> > 
> > What further info is needed from me to get this ball rolling?
> > 
> > luke
> 
> I don't have a strong opinion on any of this.  Our current setup almost seems
> adequate to me.  Would this server be in addition to our current one?  What
> are the stats on our current server (including price)?  Any reason we're not
> getting a second server from the same place?
> 
> Out of the options you listed, the server from Kevin's company seemed like the
> best deal.  I don't mind having a little logo of theirs on the bottom of
> pidgin.im.
> 
> -Mark
> 

Our current server is _just barely_ keeping up with our current usage.
However, that is not really sufficient.

1)Our pidgin.im webpage is currently a static cache of the "actual"
webpage, this makes it harder to make it fully functional.  Pointing it
at the "actual" webpage costs more in cpu & ram.

2)trac is still quite an expensive process, despite using lighttpd,
requiring regular monitoring to prevent it from going crazy.  Further
more, I believe we still have it partially disabled, for things like the
API viewing

3)our commit emails are broken.  My understanding is that the easiest
way to fix this would be to create a read-only mtn database for trac &
mail, to prevent locking conflicts. This requires more cpu.

4)we have talked about setting up a second mtn dbase for use by
translators, to give them commit access somewhere, but not the main
repository (since we cannot do access controls).  This requires more
cpu.

I am not strongly convinced that we are I/O bound, watching the munin
graphs that Nathan set up.  I think we are in fact CPU bound & RAM
bound. 

luke