I am looking to lease a dedicated server within the next week or so. I only host 3 current sites and am developing the 4th so I do not need anythign too big. I am trying to stay at $100/month. That said, my question is how well will a raq3 (the one advertised by 4webspace.com) perform with just a couple sites, but with signficant cgi load? And how will this compare to a comparable system that is not a Raq? (e.g. a 300mhz system with 32mb Ram)

My biggest reason for choosing a RAQ is the ease of administration. Are there any good hosts that have a system with a good GUI interface and comparable hardware for under $100?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Johnathan

If they are heavy on cgi you will need to upgrade the ram for sure. your best bet is to put 128 ram in the machine and then the server should be fine.

Originally posted by sigsys
And how will this compare to a comparable system that is not a Raq? (e.g. a 300mhz system with 32mb Ram)

Johnathan, both will do equally poor. Really 32 MB is ok to start out for small sites, but once the server starts getting busy (and even before that), you are going to nbeed to upgrade (as said above).

I guess my real question is will I recieve better performance by not choosing a RAQ all else being equal. Given the low cost of upgrading the RAM I will certainly do that, but I was not sure if the RAQ just ran slower or handled cgi worse than a standard linux server. Also, are there good hosts that provide comparable servers and service and if so, who? (I was originally looking at ***** for a dedicated box, but have re-thought that since reading here.)

Thanks again,
Johnathan

For a comparable processor and RAM, the usual RAQ will most likely run smoother than a poorly built equivalent.

The raqs are often accused of running CGI slower than expected, but since they execute them SECURELY by opposition as the standard non-private/secure way, I believe it is a good thing.

However, if your site relies a lot on CGI/perl scripts, I suggest a better processor. If your site uses a lot of Database interraction or PHP4 or mod_perl scripts, you need more ram (and even then, more ram is really recommended. at LEAST 64 ram)

I would suggest an alternative... which keeps the easy administration of a RAQ handy and a faster speed... a RAQ4 :)
450 mhz with 128 ram could do just what you need it to do.

Hi sig,

300mhz is the same regardless of whether it's a raq or not. I remember reading the raq3 vs a celeron 300 Linux box being worst in the past, but that issue was resolved and is not the case anymore.

It doesn't matter how many sites you have on a server, but it does matter how busy those sites are and how much cpu resources their going to be gombling up. You stated that your sites would be using significat cgi resources, hence I doubt any low end solution would suffice (depending on your definition of significant). I have both a celeron 366 and a P3 650 linux based servers with the same amount of ram, and the P3 is unbelievably faster running scripts (and everything else for that matter). I didn't think there would be such a difference, but there it.

The key is to determine what you need and your definition of "significant". Raq's can handle themselves pretty well, just don't overload them with UBB's and e-commerce apps.

32 megs of ram is not enough for any server, IMHO.

Thank you for all of the input. The newest site will be a job/resume posting site, almost exclusively cgi and mySQL. I am guessing when I say it might be at 5,000 to 7,000 hits/day in a couple months (The nature of the site will keep people at the site for good period of time searching through jobs etc.) My other sites are primarily static, so I am not too worried about them. Based on the input, I will probably go with the RAQ special through 4webspace.com and up it to 128MB. Now I am just waiting on them to get back to me on some questions that I emailed to them.

Does anybody have a site up on one of the Raq specials that could give some feedback on their experience both with the server and the company?

Thanks again,
Johnathan Brandon

Originally posted by tabernack
Raq's can handle themselves pretty well, just don't overload them with UBB's and e-commerce apps.


My UBB has 500 members. The site has 25000 visitors & 300000 pageviews. Could a RAQ 3 with 32MB RAM handle that?

I'm planning to get another UBB so is it better if i put them together in a RAQ 4 with 256MB RAM or seperately - each in a RAQ 3 with 32MB RAM?

aaron

I've never owned a raq3 so I can't say for sure. BUT, my experience with servers would have to tell me NO. The raq3 could probably handle it if you upgrade the ram to 128 or 256. But not at 32 megs.

Has anyone had contact with the person/people at 4webspace.com. I sent 2 or 3 emails over the last couple days to sales@4webspace.com asking some questions about the special and have not heard anything back yet. Is support handled through the same people as Tera-byte?

Thanks,
Johnathan

I searched the past posts and found the origional message advertising the special which said to email steve@tera-byte.com. I will try that instead.

Thanks again,
Johnathan

I would strongly suggest not using a raq3 300mhz with only 32mb of ram for anything that uses extensive cgi or database, I can guerentee you you will have prob. I would suggest you at least upgrade the mem. to at least 128mb at a minimum