I am thinking of swithing from a Raq550 to DirectAdmin box, do you think I will be better served with a new server with DirectAdmin than with the Raq550?

Hi, there is a new series of servers been released by SMT of which they have better hardware and using a clone of the RaQ 550 CP but not only are the bugs removed within the cp there are new features such as, Anti Spam, Virus Protection, etc

take a look at http://www.efinityforum.co.uk

they are a all in one solution, the server is just a little longer then the RaQ 550.

mannylucio,

First, decide if the DirectAdmin box (or any of the other control panels, Plesk, Ensim, Cpanel, etc.) suit your needs as a replacement to the Raq 550. Keep in mind there is the BlueQuartz project which provides a free version of the Raq 550 interface that runs on Fedora.


Second, any current server will considerable outpace a 550 in terms of performance. The 550 uses a ~1GHz proc on a 133Mhz FSB system with rather slow disks. So simply changing to current hardware will give you a boost.


Third, consider if you want an appliance or a plain server with control panel sofwware. I recommend solutions that at their core use a OS from a major vendor (RedHat, Suse, Fedora, etc) and run on generic hardware. This will let you continue to use your systems should the provider of a proprietary all-in-one system stops support.

Fouth, Pricing. Generally, I find that pricing may be more competitive by using standard hardware, OS, and a control panel rather than an all-in-one appliance.

Consider these prices:
The Efinity F570, featuring updated Cobalt Raq 550 interface, but with greater power.
Intel P4 2.8 GHz 768 MB RAM 2 x 80 GB 2 x 10/100 Base-T 2 x PCI slot

This runs about $2500 (US).

By comparison:

We just purchased a SuperMicro-based 1U server for $1600 with P4 3.0 (800FSB), 1GB ECC DDR RAM, 2x160 GB SATA 150 RAID, Dual Gig-E, PCI-X slot. All components were very good quality. The same system could be built for about $250 less using generic brands. RAM can be expanded to 4GB.

This leaves $1000 for getting the OS (fedora is free), a control panel, and set-up. Depending on the number of domains you need, a license for a control panel will run between $200-700. Setup should be easily outsource for less than $300-500.