OK, my question is:

If money was not an issue, what server would you buy?
I am looking for what your dream server would be.

Name, specs and linking URL if you can.

Thanks.

http://theplanet.com/control/ent/index.html
One of these would be very nice ;)

rather then one single super-duper server, I would get cluster of lower-end servers with load balancing and redundant mechaism.

Originally posted by cwl@apaqdigital
rather then one single super-duper server, I would get cluster of lower-end servers with load balancing and redundant mechaism.

Can you give me specific examples of ones that you would buy?

Thanks.

Oh, I don't know. Probably a Cray super computer with thousands of CPUs, exabytes of RAM, and tons of drive space. You could actually make a business plan out of this by leasing processing power to academics and other organisations that needs it.

How about one of these Dells maxed out with 32GB RAM and 4 Itaniums:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_7250?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
:pray:

oops my spec came out at $73,422 :D

Sun E15K server with Solaris 10. They offer custom configurations based on your needs so the price can be anything depending on memory, storage, num of CPUs, etc. Something with 8 ultrasparc CPUs, 16GB RAM, and few hundred GBs SCSI RAID storage would definitely handle quite a load.

http://www.sun.com/servers/highend/sunfire15k/index.xml

PS oops, figures it's a little over 50K... add a zero for an entry-level config. nevermind :)

Originally posted by TopHosts
Can you give me specific examples of ones that you would buy?

Thanks.
some understadings and examples for clustering and load balacing:
http://www.aspsys.com/clusters/load_balancing/
http://www.redhat.com/software/rha/cluster/

If I had $50,000 I would setup a cluster with a load balancer. More reliable if you pick a good datacenter.

It really depends on the application that would be run. If it were a many smaller sites I would go with a cluster of smaller machines. If it was for a heavy forum I would go with a beefy (or 2) DB server(s) and a several web servers.

I am rather new here (jointed late MAY), does any1 konw what kind of hardware is running WHT multi forums?

http://theplanet.com/control/ent/e2800sr5x_details.html

i will buy 10 of those and install riverhead on all of them.

I vote for an Audi S4.. :rofl:

Originally posted by DeathNova
I vote for an Audi S4.. :rofl:

lol why Audi? get a BMW!

Last I heard they were running 4 or 5 Dual Xeon's over at rackspace, but don't take my word as fact :)


Originally posted by cwl@apaqdigital
I am rather new here (jointed late MAY), does any1 konw what kind of hardware is running WHT multi forums?

CPU: Quad Intel® Itanium® 2 Processor, 1.5GHz, 6MB Cache
RAM: 32GB DDR,266MHz,16X2GB DIMMS,PE7250
Hard Drive 1: 200 GB IDE
Hard Drive 2: 200 GB IDE
Hard Drive 3: 200 GB IDE
Hard Drive 4: 200 GB IDE
IPs: 2506 IPs
Backup: Daily with E-mail Verification (External)
Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS v.3
Control Panel: CPanel/WHM
Also Included: Firewall Security Service, Personal SSL Certificate, Dedicated 56K Line To Server, Tomcat™ Java Servlet Support, Remote Reboot, Etc..Etc..

That looks good to me. :) I'll take a 10 server cluster of those, with Riverhead. :) Of course, I would need about 4-5 GigE lines. :D

I would have to agree with hiyacorp. Except I would get a second server of the same specs just for MySQL & change the HD's to SCSI's or SATA's if available for that type of mobo. The only thing I dont agree with if your only running a couple sites (I'm assuming) is cpanel. I would configure them manually. I heard cPanel was a memory hogger. But with that much ram I dont think it would make a difference. But looking at the amount you want to spend you probably want to save as much resources as you can.
But if your hosting clients its a different story and I'm sure you know your control panels well enough to choose on your own. :)
My two cents

-Dave

wow wow wee :cool:

I think I would definitely go with the Audi personally, and $99 special from Ev1.

Great topic BTW.

With $50,000 every month, I would rent a Pershing 54 feet open yacht, plus a Platinum managed server from ThePlanet. :-)

I wonder if you were to buy that server from Dell if you would get a call from someone. I'm sure maybe a confirmation call since its 74k, but would you get a sales rep calling, or someone saying thank you?

I hope so! If they didnt they would gety lots of fruad. I always get Visa ringing me up asking if I have authorised a purchase. Gets annoying thought!

Stuart

If i bought one of those i would expect them to take me out to lunch :D

hmm lets see:

http://www.penguincomputing.com/products/servers/altus4200.php
http://www.pogolinux.com/cgi-bin/systemconfigurator.cgi?system=PerformanceWare3564

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_1655mc?c=us&cs=RC974327&l=en&s=fed
http://store.sun.com/CMTemplate/CEServlet?process=SunStore&cmdViewProduct_CP&catid=93754

if you want it fast get SCSI system

For 50k - I should get a date with their hottest sales rep :D And lunch / dinner / expenses on them ;D

I would get a cluster of several Dual Opterons, with a nice SAN to go along with that.

I'd probably get an iNet style setup.

I will use $50K to buy small to mid size companies. Maybe ask google is they would sell me rights to gmail for $50,000 :).

Originally posted by XtremeBandwidth
I wonder if you were to buy that server from Dell if you would get a call from someone. I'm sure maybe a confirmation call since its 74k, but would you get a sales rep calling, or someone saying thank you?

I really doubt it.
They are like Amazon & Ebay. emails are answered by programs.
NO humans really work there.
LOL

Thats not true - You'd get a call from them asking how you want to pay - They're money grubbing whores

i would not know what to do with $50,000

but i would spend about.. maybe 10k on some servers maybe more and with the rest.. get some colocation... PrePay for a few months

Then buy a few companys.. and get some clients.. so u can make that money back :)

Buy companies for sure :)

Investments should always be planned out though :D

ibm xSeries rackmounts all the way!
With FreeBSD or Linux OS..... and TCP load balancing (I assume you looking at balancing WWW/MySQL traffic)..

xSeries 345 (or two for failover) for DB backend (with Raid configuration)

then multiple xSeries 335 as front-end WWW servers

and some load-balancing hardware (or perhaps freewares from LVS or FreeBSD ports)

Then, spending a bit on good sys admins to tune the systems (a large box ain't help you MUCH if it's not correctly tunned)..

and the rest you can spend with chicks & vodka or whiskey :)

hehe

Hello,
We run Dell Poweredge 2650 Servers and they are very reliable.. You are talking about $50G on just servers though so you also need to figure in software pricing and bandwidth.

Our servers, fully configured with Virtuozzo, HSPComplete and all of the control panel licenses + Bandwidth get to be very expensive. $50G is not much money if you want to play with the big boys.. The BIG hosts are untouchable..

But for $50G, You could start a nice dedicated server compnay simular to EV1 or any other company.

Regards,
Chris

Eh, im not sure you could start an EV1 for 50k dollars..

Originally posted by TheWalrus
Eh, im not sure you could start an EV1 for 50k dollars..

I think everyone must have known that.. You can buy a good 50 dedicated servers plus have money for bandwidth and a billing system. I'm sure you can make your money back and buy more servers..

Or.... you can put the 50G in the bank and lease a boat load of servers.. Like EV1 did and many other companies.. No one just buys 10,000 servers outright.. thats just crazy..

You can lease 25 servers for less than $500.00 per month. And renting them at $99.00 each.. Well, that shows how fast you can pay them off..

Nothing is impossible even if you don't have 50 Grand..

Chris

If i were the owner of Ikea, i'd buy 10,000 servers and use them as home decorations :D