If you're just wanting a web server for a single site, having a
physical dedicated server is probably not really needed. But if it's a
requirement to have stuff, i'd look to buy something that I can set up
a small VM setup that I could deploy multiple webservers as needed, in
which case you probably could do worse than a Dell Poweredge running
VMWare.

An alternative would be to buy a Mac Mini with  OS X Server
installed...you could run Ubuntu on that too.


Having said that... I can understand why some would see using
"cloud-based" systems as "outsourcing", but there is more to it  than
just getting out of physical server management.. There's a lot of
development platforms coming together now that offer a set of services
that make developing and managing web applications wwwwaaayyyy easier.
  For Drupal, I'd suggest looking at Acquia, as they have a pretty
good platform for Drupal development and hosting.

b,chris.







On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 6:37 AM, Cary Gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> When you look at everything that goes into the TCO, it is hard to make
> a case for a physical server.
>
> We have about 17 years experience running systems starting with the
> California State Library's DEC Alpha. We won't miss running the
> datacenter on the weekend to deal with a drive failure.
>
> Amazon has gone from a metric-less, expensive and difficult to manage
> system to a solid infrastructure with better performance per dollar
> than we can get in our datacenter. The bonus is thatt we can scale at
> will.
>
> Cary
>
> On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 6:18 PM, Nate Hill <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> I should have anticipated a lot of folks would be pushing AWS or Rackspace
>> or something off-site.
>>
>> At my last job in San Jose I would have *loved* to have outsourced all of
>> this because of the complications working with both city and University IT
>> and network.
>> I would have loved to have kissed those Windows servers goodbye and brushed
>> up on my Linux and had the 24 hour support and zero downtime guarantee that
>> came with such a solution.
>>
>> In Chattanooga, the situation is different.
>>
>> We've got the 1 gig connection, and it is a big piece of this wonderful
>> city's identity.  I definitely don't know enough about network architecture
>> to speak meaningfully about it, but we are moving from an antiquated setup
>> to the fastest public internet in the country.  It's pretty cool.  I don't
>> think outsourcing is really part of that plan, you know?  I'm really
>> looking forward to engaging the local geek community in creating local
>> solutions.
>>
>> I do imagine that in the future as we do one-off apps we'll experiment with
>> AWS.  For now, I'm awfully excited to set up some hardware, have control of
>> that hardware (that cannot be taken for granted in public libraries) and do
>> some tinkering.
>>
>> Yes... I do need more than just a production server, but I've got some
>> reconditioned boxes coming from the city that I can play with for testing
>> and staging (for now).
>>
>> For now, this server is going to run/host a Drupal website for the library.
>>
>> Please, anybody, do speak up if you think my approach is flawed...
>>
>> N
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 8:43 PM, Ross Singer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> This answer segues well into my question: why, exactly, do you want a
>>> physical server?
>>>
>>> I realize that there are plenty arguments for running your own hardware
>>> (and bandwidth is cheap and plentiful in Chattanooga -- which deals with
>>> the main carrying cost), but, presumably you'll need more than one (for
>>> replication and whatnot), right?
>>>
>>> What exactly do you plan to run/host on this server?
>>>
>>> -Ross.
>>>
>>> On Monday, July 16, 2012, Cary Gordon wrote:
>>>
>>> > We currently use Dell in our datacenter, but we are moving almost all
>>> > of our servers to AWS over the next 10 months.
>>> >
>>> > Thanks,
>>> >
>>> > Cary
>>> >
>>> > On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 11:52 AM, Nate Hill <[log in to unmask]
>>> <javascript:;>>
>>> > wrote:
>>> > > I'm shopping for a new dedicated server for our public library website.
>>> > > I'd like to run Ubuntu.
>>> > > Does anyone have any hardware suggestions/guidance they'd like to
>>> offer?
>>> > > I'd like to not spend a zillion dollars.
>>> > > Thanks-
>>> > >
>>> > > --
>>> > > Nate Hill
>>> > > [log in to unmask] <javascript:;>
>>> > > http://www.natehill.net
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Cary Gordon
>>> > The Cherry Hill Company
>>> > http://chillco.com
>>> >
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Nate Hill
>> [log in to unmask]
>> http://www.natehill.net
>
>
>
> --
> Cary Gordon
> The Cherry Hill Company
> http://chillco.com