ANST - On-line Ansteorra : The Next Generation...
j'lynn yeates
jyeates at realtime.net
Mon Apr 26 11:18:36 PDT 1999
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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