ANST - On-line Ansteorra : The Next Generation...

[j'lynn yeates]

On 26 Apr 99, at 11:49, Pug Bainter wrote:

> Good Morning one and all,
> 
>   It has come time for the Kingdom of Ansteorra to step forward into the
>   Electronic Age again. I am asking for all of your help in this.

warning ... devils advocate mode active:  

sorry dude, been working in the computer/internet business world to many years 
but have always seen the "let's throw hardware at the problem" as a expensive 
disaster waiting to happen.  

it's always the "easy" solution that appeals to less technical literate ... ie: 
"let's geta  computer and our problems will go away" ... in my experience, this 
approach never solves the problems and often compounds it ... at best it always 
ends up costing far more than those that proposed it realize.  the initial 
hardware costs are always a drop in the bucket where web/email sites are 
concerned ... not to mention that to my mind, the specifiic machine you are 
talking about (familiar with that range of Dell's) is radically undersized / 
underpowered for even moderate serving (been there, done that ...)

some questions that need to be addressed *before* any hadware is purchased or 
considered ...

* define the business need adequately ... scope and volume, this is critical 
for defining software and hardware needs.  what hit level are you taking now 
(consider all the sites you want to compress), how will this grow in future ... 
consider the email lists and personal email accounts you are taking about.  
that done, start considering the necessary back-end bandwith required to 
process this load and provide adequate performance (if it don't serve, they 
won't come ...)

* on to software issues what operating system planned ??? ... this defines what 
serving software is needed ... this defines what hardware platform / 
configuration is appropriate (*never* base a project on hardware ... business 
need defines the software, the software defines operating system ... operating 
system defines hardware ... ergo, should always be the *last* component 
specified .... unless you're into it simply to tweak around on the hardware.  
servers are not home computers ... even though they look rthe same

* on hardware issues ... once the above is answered, what processors are 
appropriate (familiy, dual, multiple ...), how much memory, how much storage, 
what UPS are you planning ... being a server, redundency is important, RAID is 
expensive but critical for a "business" server, and you are talking about 
building a Kingdom business server, no? (if not then it's a hobby-class 
machine).  what tape backup system are you planning, and *who* will be 
responsible for maintaining these backups?.  

* site considerations ... *where* will it live?  in a home / office / on 
someone rack?  are utilities adequte?  what about physical security?  if 
offsite, what are the access issues involved?

* what communication links do you want ... someones bedroom?  those high 
capacity lines are expensive to install and maintain .... someone thinking of 
using it backside on their cable modem access ??? ... forget it, will get 
shutdown on TOS grounds almost immediately (no servers) ... ISDN/DSL 
*expensive* .... hosting it on someone rack?  have the expenses been figured in 
the operation charges???   setting it up at someones work?? ... same problem 
you outlined in the "needs" email, at mercey of an employer / bandwidth

all in all, dosn''t sound like the plan is at all well thought out *yet* ... 
and it's definitely the wrong time in the perocess to be thinking about buying 
a machine
  
'wolf


... When we hunt, we all function with one mind
... - Boingo, Pedestrian Wolves
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