Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1996 19:19:54 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Dillon <michael@memra.com> To: Joel Kelmenson <joel@quicklink.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org, freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Recommendation Needed for server setup Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960404190328.17555G-100000@sidhe.memra.com> In-Reply-To: <9604041813.AA23448@www>
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On Thu, 4 Apr 1996, Joel Kelmenson wrote: > It would be great to hear some recommendations on good setup > for a web and news server. I have one system that I would like > to use. It is a P90 PCI, 8mb, 720mb ide drive. WWW, fine. News? ha, ha, ha, ha, tell me another joke! > I know that I will have to do a lot to this system. > More RAM, SCSI harddrive, SCSI adapter, ethernet adapter, etc.. You don't run news on a machine that is doing anything else other than maybe DNS. News machines need at least 32 megs RAM if you carry a full feed and at least 5 separate SCSI drives... 128 meg swap drive 400 meg root drive 400 meg history drive 1 or 2 gig overviews drive 4 or 6 gig news spool Even better is to put in several 1 gig drives on a Mylex DAC960SI and stripe them as a RAID array in place of the news spool. But keep the other drives. And turn off that sync-whatchamacallit option on the news spool and overviews for speed. > It would be very helpful if I could get some advice from those of > you who have some experience setting up quality servers. Surprisingly to some, an 8 meg machine is OK for a few shell users, email, DNS and some lightly used WWW pages. But do not under any circumstances put more than one IDE drive in such a machine. Even here a separate small SCSI drive for SWAP can make a difference. > 1. Best CPU full news feeds demand a Pentium, other stuff works fine on a 486. If you build a router box routing several Ethernets or FDDI then Pentiums are better but that would be a dedicated router running nothing but gated off any old hard drive. > 4. Hard drives (type, brand, size, etc..). If you get Barracudas or other 7200 RPM drives make sure you have a fan blowing directly across the top of the drive and leave airspace their or it will literally burn up. If neccesary glue and extra muffin fan in place in your chassis. > 5. Software (web server, news server, tools, etc..). Apache is the best UNIX WWW server http://www.apache.org. There is only one news server for ISP's, namely INN. There is only one email program for ISP's, namely sendmail. Learn to build your own tools using PERL, it's a swiss-army knife. > 6. Where to get the best prices. Your local build-it-from-the-brand-name-parts-I-specify hole in the wall store that stocks spares and is run by an electronics tech who can actually diagnose problems and fix things. This kind of store often uses ASUS motherboards. There is a newsgroup called something like alt.computer.main-board.asus which can help... > When I ask for the "best" I don't mean most expensive. What I > mean is what works well without going overboard. And I was about to recommend an SGI Power Challenge system... ;-) > What would be helpful too, is if anyone knows where to get good deals on any > of the suggested hardware. I'm serious about the "local" part in my above recommendation. You want somebody who knows your face and is willing to bend over backwards to help you out when a crisis hits. remember Murphy's law and plan accordingly. > We could all benefit (if we share price info). Not really. Then Murphy would just pick off everybody one by one... > I hate to buy something and find out that I should have bought.... I hope you're not the type of ISP who drops prices when you hear that somebody else in town is offering cheaper service than you.... That kind of ISP doesn't last long becaise they are so scared of failure that they attract it to themselves. If you care about your customers and bend over backwards to help them and give them good service (no busies) then they will pay your rates without a complaint. The few who do complain will try out your competition for a month or two and then come back to you. Read http://www.amazing.com/internet/ too. Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-546-8022 Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-546-3049 http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com
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