[Scotttheking]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give an update on what is going on with the stats. As many of you know, I'm moving to Maryland for school in August. I was planning to keep my servers at my house, but that was sold, and I have to move out by the end of July. After much searching, I've found a place to keep the servers while I'm gone. That place is my dad's office. Within the next 2 weeks, I should have static IPs setup, and I've got an electrician running me a new electric circuit for my servers.
Some of you know the specs of the boxes, but for those that don't, here's what they are:
Web:
Athlon xp 2400
768MB ram
40GB HD for data
20GB HD for swap

Database:
Athlon xp 2400
768MB of ram (will be 1.5GB by the time I leave)
2X40GB HD in raid1
20GB HD for swap

Combined, the machines use about 280 watts of power.

These boxes are quite powerful, but in some ways they are underpowered. The database server is lacking in ram, and the HD speed is poor at best. This is part of the reason some pages take a while to load.

The plan as it currently exists:
The servers will move to my dad's office in about 2 weeks, or after the infrastructure is in, whichever comes first. They will be as they currently are. I'm paying for a new UPS for them ($200), and for the new circuit they need, as well as another 512MB ram stick. Reader50 is also helping to pay for this equipment.
Next summer, I'd like to see the current shortcomings in the servers corrected. These boxes are about maxxed out, and it makes more sense to replace rather then upgrade. To that end, next summer I'd like to see the boxes replaced with a dual opteron system with around 4GB of ram and a good HD subsystem, either SATA (WD Raptor or equivalent) or SCSI. Since dual core opterons will be coming out next summer, there will be a definite upgrade path, giving four cores at a later date.
The fun part: I won't pay for it. The ads on the website bring in a little, but they don't even cover operating expenses. So, between now and next summer, a way needs to be found to pay for new equipment, otherwise what I currently have is what stays, and when it dies, it dies. I'm sure some people are wondering why I'm talking about such a powerful machine, and my answer is, I know what is planned for teamstats, and I'd like to know that when reader50 finishes the code, the hardware is going to be there to run it.

So, that's some stuff to ponder. What say you?

By the way, my dad is letting me keep my servers at his office, but he isn't paying for them. That's still my job.

--Scott

[reader50]

This location for the servers replaces the plan for me to host from California. This plan is better, I'd have had problems keeping them cool enough.

Stats are due to get faster at some point anyway, regardless of hardware. I've been quiet recently regarding coding, partly because I just finished an intro class on C. Teamstats is likely going to move from a PHP backend to a compiled C backend sometime this summer, that should produce a nice speedup in everything but the DB access time.

Work has picked up again in the real world, so it will take a little while longer though. Oh well, work brings that dual G6 a bit closer.

[siliconman]

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
The fun part: I won't pay for it. The ads on the website bring in a little, but they don't even cover operating expenses. So, between now and next summer, a way needs to be found to pay for new equipment, otherwise what I currently have is what stays, and when it dies, it dies.

Did you get much response on the question of selling email addresses? I would pay $20/year for a team.macnn.com email address. Maybe we could all donate some old hardware to auction off with the proceeds going for a new stats box. Anyone else have any ideas?

[Scotttheking]

Originally posted by siliconman:
Did you get much response on the question of selling email addresses? I would pay $20/year for a team.macnn.com email address. Maybe we could all donate some old hardware to auction off with the proceeds going for a new stats box. Anyone else have any ideas?

Not much interest in emails, and due to some changes here, the mail server has been put on hold.

When it gets closer to new box time, I'll be exploring options a lot more. In the meantime, I'd just like to note the ads on the team site. The google ads are pay per click, the rest pay a percentage of what you buy. Hopefully over the course of the next 10 months that'll get me a little closer to buying a new box.


Stats plan: I'm waiting for a new power circuit, I have to order a UPS, I need static IPs (QWEST SUCKS), and I'm deciding on a new firewall for the office, which will have a DMZ port (real DMZ, not exposed host) for my servers. Hopefully moving in 10 days. If I'm lucky.

[[APi]TheMan]

I surely appreciate what you guys have done for Team MacNN and I'd love to help. I can't help with hardware but I would definitely be able to donate some money a little here and a little there. The stats pages are awesome.

[Scotttheking]

Update:

The electrician said he was putting in the new circuits Tuesday night, but I haven't confirmed that they are in and live.
I didn't order a UPS because a) My CC is maxxed out, and b) I don't have the money right now, and don't know that I will. The UPS my dad already has will have to handle the full load until I can order another one. Hopefully it'll be enough.
I don't have static IPs yet, but I should be able to order them tomorrow.
The firewall has been approved, but not yet ordered. For those who care, I'm getting a Fortigate 60. My servers will live behind it's DMZ port. It's got traffic shaping, and assuming I can learn how to set it up, my servers will get half a megabit of upload bandwidth guaranteed, burstable to the full line speed if other things aren't using it.
Sometime between Saturday and the end of July I'll be formatting the web server, and it'll come back online when I move the servers to their new location. Hopefully the outage will be short, it all depends on me getting the new location ready in time.

[Scotttheking]

It doesn't look like the firewall will be here before next Friday. This outage is going to be long.