Does FerrariChat.com need multiple processors? | FerrariChat
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Does FerrariChat.com need multiple processors?

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by rob lay, Nov 10, 2003.

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  1. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    #1 rob lay, Nov 10, 2003
    Right now I have...

    P4 1.6 Ghz
    40 gig IDE HD
    1GB of RAM
    RedHat Linux 7.3

    The new board software has some analysis called Server Load Averages. I don't know how accurate it is, but basically they give 3 numbers, 1 minute, 5 minute, and 15 minute averages. I guess the important one is the long-term number. It's based on CPU usage. Basically 1.00 is 100% usage. Anything over than that means processes are being delayed as it waits. Like right now as the board isn't very busy the numbers are "0.70 1.02 0.99 | 79 Users Online (68 members and 11 guests)", but during the day when we get up to 150 users online I saw numbers of 2.5 for all averages. That seems to indicate to me that I need more processors.

    What would a decent server have? A couple P4 2 Ghz? In the 3 years we've had FC I've gone from a small shared plan, to a larger shared plan, to the largest shared plan, to a small dedicated server, and then to this server about a year ago. Each time I get the next one I think it will handle the next several years only to be needing something bigger 6-12 months later.

    Thanks,
    rob "software, not hardware" lay
     
  2. Artherd

    Artherd F1 Veteran

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    #2 Artherd, Nov 11, 2003
    Rob-those look like 'top' load averages. If they are (and 1.0 = 1 CPU's full load there too.) than yes, you may need more...

    BUT, note that those CPU meters include CPU wait time induced by HDD lookups. by 40GB I assume we're talking a single IDE hard drive here. That's likely woefully inadequate for a db-backed site.

    You may have plenty of CPU, but need more I/O. (this is where true UNIX servers excell.) May be time for a good FibreChannel RAID-5.

    Here are my averages on a 2CPU SGI Origin200. (on this machine, because of 2 procs, a load avg of 2.00 = full load)

    IRIX64 jaime 6.5 IP27 load averages: 0.06 0.12 0.08 23:39:11
    75 processes: 73 sleeping, 2 running
    2 CPUs: 86.9% idle, 8.7% usr, 4.2% ker, 0.0% wait, 0.0% xbrk, 0.2% intr
    Memory: 2048M max, 1966M avail, 732M free, 10240M swap, 10240M free swap
     
  3. Artherd

    Artherd F1 Veteran

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    #3 Artherd, Nov 11, 2003
    meant to add; this server hosts a lot of db-backed sites, and has a Ciprico RAID attached via FC-AL (FibreChannel.)
     
  4. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    #4 rob lay, Nov 11, 2003
    I just talked to sales, I'm getting excited just like I do with cars. :)

    They could lease me the following fully managed server for $900 a month...

    (2) P4 2.4Ghz
    150+ gig HD - Raid
    4GB of RAM
    500 Ghz of traffic a month

    Now that would kick ass!
     
  5. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
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    #5 Schatten, Nov 11, 2003
    at $900 a month, it sounds like it will become expensive quite quickly. but is the lease plan the only way that it will be up on their LAN at the provider? or can you buy a box, set it up and drop it in? Not sure which path you will want to take for warranty, fail over and cost effectiveness.

    one other note - which should be put in a suggestion box in the other forum - you might want to consider small fees for added pieces. on somethingawful.com (which I know some members here are over there), you pay 10 bucks for an account (this could be free) but changing avatar/title, being able to PM and of course, adding images to posts - these are each nominal fees of 5-10 each. it might not sound like much but it can add up, especially if there are large images being attached. I wouldn't suggest a fee based plan but image attachments to threads might be something to consider depending on bandwidth loads & constraints.
     
  6. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    #6 rob lay, Nov 11, 2003
    I am going to upgrade the FerrariChat.com RAM to 2 GB and see how much that helps.
     

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  7. F328 BobD

    F328 BobD Formula 3

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    #7 F328 BobD, Nov 11, 2003
    There must be somebody at F-Chat willing to step up and purchase this thing for you. What's the cost, $6-7K including RAID? Anyone?
     
  8. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    #8 rob lay, Nov 11, 2003
    Ahh, it's not that bad. Better for me to get a full managed server vs. my own hardware co-located. This way they're responsible for any hardware failures and monitoring it. I can also upgrade to bigger and cheaper in the future as technology advances.

    $900 ain't bad, that's what I was paying through 2002 for the FerrariChat.com server before I shoped around and it was 20% the power of the above one. :)
     
  9. Evolved

    Evolved F1 Veteran

    Nov 5, 2003
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    #9 Evolved, Nov 12, 2003
    Rob,

    Those are 'fair' numbers for what you mentioned.

    Is that a big enough amount of storage for a growing site like ferrarichat?

    Just be sure to call back once a year and get everything upgraded for free. They are pricing that into your "lease" so why not take advantage?

    I have heard of some scumbags who will sell you whatever you want but put your stuff on an old crappy server. Make sure you reserve the right to have someone inspect the hardware and do so at random intervals.

    I think you meant 500gb of traffic per month?

    -Dave
     
  10. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    #10 rob lay, Nov 12, 2003
    Yes, much of this networking-server stuff is new to me. As a developer we could always take it for granted and had someone else to call.

    The FerrariChat.com server will be upgraded to 2 Gb RAM tomorrow and how well that helps will determine how soon we go to a new kick ass server. Right now we're not way over capacity, but during the day things would be a little faster with an upgraded server.
     

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