 |
 |
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