On Sunday 31 May 2009 01:27:07 Mick wrote: > > Added to that, my employer is an ISP and not shy with budgets, so a > > purchase order for new hardware in a case like this will not raise any > > eyebrows. For me, it's a low level of risk high impact scenario and the $ > > cost is low. > > > > In a budget-constrained environment, it would obviously work very > > differently > > Well, I am in a very cost constrained environment I'm afraid. Good advice > given here - I am now thinking that a virtual server is the next stage. > Any idea how it would run on a single CPU machine - or must we bite the > bullet and go for some multicore monster?
virtualization can give surprisingly pleasant performance figures. It's VASTLY improved since vmware still caught on, and web sites don't necessarily have to be resource hogs. So what I would do is get your hands on a spare machine somewhere (you might need to get creative here...) and test out all the well-known virtualization technologies (vmware-server, virtualbox, kvm, qemu). My experience has been that as long as you don't run X on the hosts or guests, performance is good. If you are already running out of steam on a single-cpu machine, then you'd need an upgrade anyway and no amount of magic sauce technology can change that - it takes budget ;-) -- alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com
