Thoughts on webserver upgrade ??

[Soulkeeper]

i am considering doing more than just upgrading my cpu on the system in my sig
here is what i am considering doing:

2.8ghz prescott
western digital 10k rpm sata drive 36gb (already have support on motherboard) $117
fujitsu 15k rpm scsi 18gb $185
adaptec u160 or u320 scsi controller card (29320 $215)

Do you think the scsi hard drive setup will make any big difference over the sata drive in an entry level server environment ??
is it worth the extra money to go scsi ?

any ideas ?


btw, i currently have a 20gb 7200rpm maxtor drive

 

[jose]

Which OS are you using ? Are you using a backend database ? Also are you using Apache ?

How many hits do you get ? As a minimum I use the following : Linux + MySQL + PHP + Apache

Regards,
Jose

 

[Soulkeeper]

yeah i'll be running a linux server with apache and mod_perl maybe even some other modules
i will proabably not get many hits at first
i'm thinking maybe only a few hundred per day

but as far as making a difference what is yur take on the raptor vs. the fujitsu drive ??
btw i will be using an 80gb western digital 8mb for backup

 

[Soulkeeper]

bump

should i just save money and go with sata for this decked out system ??

 

[DaveSimmons]

For just pages and a little scripting, a 500 MHz P3 with 256 MB RAM and a 5400 RPM IDE drive can easily handle many thousands of hits / page views a day.

What are you doing that makes you need 2.8 GHz and SCSI? Only heavy computation, massive traffic, or massive database loads would require anything more than an old slow P3 and poky disk.

 

[jose]

Well I would never use an ide drive in a multi-user environment. Unless it was a 3Ware 8port card. But using scsi will make a diff.

Checkout storagereview latest review in comparing the new 74g raptor to 7 other drives (atlas 15k & 10k4). Every scsi drive dominates the raptor.

The atlas 15k beats the raptor by 65% in some test. I always use atleast 2 scsi drives in any multi-user environment.

Check hypermicro.com , you can get scsi drives real cheap. They are Dell oem's, brand new. Also if you buy a couple of them they will give you a
LSI u160 controller free. (I have 3 of them)

Regards,
Jose

 

[dexvx]

You'd save a lot more money going SCSI if you use a U160 controller (seeing as how U320 would be useless on a 32/33 PCI bus).

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: jose
Well I would never use an ide drive in a multi-user environment. ...

I would for a webserver with light loads -- a webserver is much more like a single-user environment than a fileserver for a LAN, unless the webserver is doing a lot of database work (heavy traffic picture server, forum with a lot of simultaneous users).

Certainly SCSI is better and more relaible, even if it will be setting idle waiting for just a couple of page requests every second. And I guess if someone wants to over-spend it makes much more sense than the processor upgrade.

 

[Soulkeeper]

Originally posted by: jose
Well I would never use an ide drive in a multi-user environment. Unless it was a 3Ware 8port card. But using scsi will make a diff.

Checkout storagereview latest review in comparing the new 74g raptor to 7 other drives (atlas 15k & 10k4). Every scsi drive dominates the raptor.

The atlas 15k beats the raptor by 65% in some test. I always use atleast 2 scsi drives in any multi-user environment.

Check hypermicro.com , you can get scsi drives real cheap. They are Dell oem's, brand new. Also if you buy a couple of them they will give you a
LSI u160 controller free. (I have 3 of them)

Regards,
Jose

thanks i'll check that site out

 

[Soulkeeper]

so i take it the 68 pin scsi connector is the newer one ??
does it even matter which connector i get as long as the scsi card supports it ?

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
so i take it the 68 pin scsi connector is the newer one ??
does it even matter which connector i get as long as the scsi card supports it ?

As far as I know, SCSI Host Bus Adapters only have 68 pin connectors. Drives designed to go inside your case and connect directly to the SCSI card with a 68 pin cable, should be 68 pin drives. 80 pin drives have the power connections in with the data connections, so they can be hot-swapped in a special rack safely. If you want to hook an 80 pin SCSI drive up to a SCSI adapter directly (without putting it in a hotswap rack), you'll need a 68 to 80 pin adapter, which takes the cable from your SCSI card plus a 4 pin power connector from your PSU, and converts them to the 80 pin connector on the drive. Manufacturers make the same drives in 68 pin and 80 pin connections.

 

[xenos500]

hmm....I have never seen a web server with a GF 4 TI....

 

[Soulkeeper]

hahahaha thanks everyone

 

[Cerb]

Forget CPU...unless you do ASP on a Windows box, a PII 400 will largely be drive and network limited. If you're running only a single website, IDE drives are fine. For multiple ones, go for older SCSI (cheaper SCSI will still do better than IDE for many users).