Servers

I’ve been writing quite a bit on my blog, but don’t seem to be able to actually finish any of my posts. They’re all sitting waiting for more editing. I’ve become very impressed with Joel and other who blog on a regular basis about current topics.

Anyway, I’ve always been interested in servers. Both the software and the hardware. The software I prefer is almost completely open-source now. The hardware has had a few changes.

In the past, I liked name-brand, powerful (expensive!) servers. Sun, Compaq ProLiant, etc. Then, I found that white-box systems were unbeatable in terms of price/performance. And, by having more boxes, you could get as much or more reliability.

But, things have shifted again (for me, at least). I’ve grown tired of so much integration work. This processor *should* work with this motherboard. This network adapter *should* work with this switch. And so on.

My last big hardware purchase was for Sun x4100’s and I’ve been thrilled. They are powerful and have had exactly zero maintenance so far (it’s been over a year).

I’ve also been curious about how the Google Apps work. I haven’t had much of a need for them, but when I was dreaming about new hardware, I realized that I could give them a try.

I created a “Fantasy Server” in Google’s Spreadsheet and have published it. It’s a work in progress. I don’t have an actual application (breaking rule #1 of building a server!). But, it’s still fun!

Fantasy Server

The latest Sun box, the 4450, seems really powerful. The biggest thing I’ve noticed with the x4100’s is that having four CPU’s (well, two CPUs with two cores) is already outstripping the disk I/O by a wide margin. Even with 16GB of RAM.

I have an Apple MacPro for my workstation, which has two quad-core CPUs at 3Ghz each. Even though I have a couple of Raptors and the Apple default drive, the processors just don’t have much to do. It’s all about the hard drive.

So, in my latest server design, I included a LOT of spindles. I also went with the 2.5″ SAS drives. Many people seem uncomfortable with these and cite capacity, cost, etc. To me, the last thing I want is a drive that is so big that it takes a long time to get all the data from it. I want lots of little drives, so I can break up database file, log files, system files, etc. in appropriate ways.

Anyway, take a look and give me any feedback if you have it.