Hi Cary,

> 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 that we can scale at
> will.

I, for one, would be interested in attending a half-day code4lib preconference workshop covering all the ins and outs of moving from locally hosted servers to Amazon.  Particularly if the presenter has moved multiple *production* servers to Amazon and can cover things like how to "scale at will" based on experience.

-- Michael

# Michael Doran, Systems Librarian
# University of Texas at Arlington
# 817-272-5326 office
# 817-688-1926 mobile
# [log in to unmask]
# http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Cary Gordon
> Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 11:37 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] new server
> 
> 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