I am trying to create a vortal (with a search engine, message boards, up to 20 MB free
Web space and some other cpu and memory intensive features).

I was adviced to start with one database server (contains all Urls/descriptions for our Web search engine) and a Web server (free Web space, message boards etc.). I expect to need about 3 TB of data transfer/month in a year from now. We estimate we will have 250,000 members by then.

With 3 TB bandwidth/month I was told I would need the following computers:

- 3 Web servers dual PIII 750 with 512-1024 RAM each
- 4 database servers, dual or quad PIII 2048 RAM
- load balancing switches

Others told me that one database server and two dual PIII 850 Web servers would be
enough.

I know it is just a rough estimate (a lot depends on traffic/day etc.), but which of the two
quotes is more accurate (if any)?

Thanks

The first one is more accurate. 3 TB is a lot of bandwidth.... I'd bet money that you'd need a small web farm to run that, more like 10-20 front end web servers, and 5-8 db servers.....

There is no Right Answer. Depending upon the scripts you're running you could need anywhere from one server up to a hundred.

However, there is a Right Solution: Start with one database server and one web server, and watch the system loads; when they get too high, add more servers. Read about how "AmIHotOrNot" did this... they basically woke up each morning for the first couple weeks and immediately ordered more servers.

A year is a lot of time to expand; start small, and expand as your needs dictate, *when* your needs dictate.

can agree more with cperciva, especially since the hardware prices would go down fast within that one year ... starting small when you are small and expand more as you grow will be the best solution ....

cheers,
:beer:

Read about how amihotornot handled it -> http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/2001/05/hong/

Domenico