Folks:
I've received a ton of email arguing for off-site servers and support, and
I'm going to try my best to pursue this angle rather than get my own
hardware.
Thanks for your input-
Nate


On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 3:44 AM, Chris Fitzpatrick
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> 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
>



-- 
Nate Hill
[log in to unmask]
http://www.natehill.net