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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