Sun Ultra 60 vs. AMD K6-2 for web server

[MadRat]

Originally posted by: Pariah
Stability is, or should be, a factor in performance with regards to servers. In this area, the Ultra 60 is probably the better bet. Assuming that the DSL line will be the limiting factor, we can better evaluate hardware (not that the Ultra 60 is a slouch). Half of a gigabyte of ECC ram is a great thing to have, and generally a requirement in a server, even a lowend server. The SCSI disks in the Ultra 60 will probably still work when the next machine I buy gets tossed to the side. Other than these two factors, if we ignore than Sun machines (even workstations like this) are of very good quality and built to be stable above all, the choice is moot.

I would recommend OpenBSD for the Ultra 60 though, but Debian isn't a bad choice. Nor is Sunner's Solaris recommendation (knew that was his post before looking at the name).

For a home webserver, where time isn't money, 99.999% uptime guarantees aren't really a requirement. I have an XP machine that I set up as a bittorrent tracker/host a few months ago. I installed PC Anywhere on it so I could access it from another computer and stuck it in a closet. After that intial set up, and about 350GB's of transfers later, the machine has not gone down, nor have I had to reboot it or do any maintainance on it at all. There's no reason a standard XP computer should have any stability issues running as a home webserver.[/quote]

The spammers love hands free machines like that.

:beer::evil::beer:

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: Pariah

It doesn't matter. What he is saying is that the internet connection isn't fast enough for more than 8 connections or so. It's irrelevant what hardware you have, the internet connection is by far the limiting factor.

Maybe, maybe not. Some dynamic stuff can be pretty sluggish.

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Firstly, just use a dynamic DNS service like no-ip (are they still free?) and save yourself five bones.

If money is not a problem, a static ip is a very nice thing to have. My isp only changes ips when you change your mac address (or when hell freezes over, apparently), so I essentially have a static ip. I don't think dsl generally does that though.

I'll just be saving this post for the next time some Linux fanboy comes a-trolling.

Honestly I think the argument about stability nowadays is almost always stupid and a waste of time on everyone's part. Pretty much all modern OSes are stable, although plenty of people have problems due to flaky drivers and whatnot (on all OSes).

Although using a windows machine as a server with remote control via gui just seems sick and wrong to me.

 

[p1800volvo]

I don't have a problem with using the command line. Everything is faster this way.

 

[InlineFive]

My old K6-2 was an amazing processor. I wish I still had it to build a SmoothWall server out of.

 

[jhu]

with such a small upstream bandwidth, your question of which machine will perform better is rather moot. that's like asking "which car will get me from point a to point b faster with a 70mph speed limit on the highway: a honda civic or a lexus es 300?" in your case, i'd use the machine that uses the least amount of electricity.

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: MadRat


The spammers love hands free machines like that.

:beer::evil::beer:

The entire network is behind a firewall, what do spammers have to do with anything?

 

[p1800volvo]

in your case, i'd use the machine that uses the least amount of electricity.

That wouldn't be the sun box, that's for sure. Sounds like either one will get me to Stage 1 (static pages) just fine.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Pariah

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Pariah

I never mentioned performance, and that's not why I'd pick the Ultra60.

Well, in his 2 sentence post, the only question I see is which will perform better. So if you aren't responding to that question, then which question of his are you responding to?

Stability is, or should be, a factor in performance with regards to servers. In this area, the Ultra 60 is probably the better bet. Assuming that the DSL line will be the limiting factor, we can better evaluate hardware (not that the Ultra 60 is a slouch). Half of a gigabyte of ECC ram is a great thing to have, and generally a requirement in a server, even a lowend server. The SCSI disks in the Ultra 60 will probably still work when the next machine I buy gets tossed to the side. Other than these two factors, if we ignore than Sun machines (even workstations like this) are of very good quality and built to be stable above all, the choice is moot.

I would recommend OpenBSD for the Ultra 60 though, but Debian isn't a bad choice. Nor is Sunner's Solaris recommendation (knew that was his post before looking at the name).

For a home webserver, where time isn't money, 99.999% uptime guarantees aren't really a requirement. I have an XP machine that I set up as a bittorrent tracker/host a few months ago. I installed PC Anywhere on it so I could access it from another computer and stuck it in a closet. After that intial set up, and about 350GB's of transfers later, the machine has not gone down, nor have I had to reboot it or do any maintainance on it at all. There's no reason a standard XP computer should have any stability issues running as a home webserver.

Agreed, but what are you going to do with that machine 10 years from now? The Sun machine will probably still be working.

I don't care what he chooses, I just like Sun hardware better. Better W^X

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

If money is not a problem, a static ip is a very nice thing to have. My isp only changes ips when you change your mac address (or when hell freezes over, apparently), so I essentially have a static ip. I don't think dsl generally does that though.

Mine only changes when: I leave the machine unplugged for a while (hours atleast), or I change MAC addresses.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

If money is not a problem, a static ip is a very nice thing to have. My isp only changes ips when you change your mac address (or when hell freezes over, apparently), so I essentially have a static ip. I don't think dsl generally does that though.

Mine only changes when: I leave the machine unplugged for a while (hours atleast), or I change MAC addresses.

Same here.

 

[MadRat]

Because web server has had vulnerability after vulnerability, with most of them coming from simple http requests en masse. Firewalls do not block buffer overflow vulnerabilities.