Re:Ask HN: $40k on physical hardware? or use the cloud?
by flannell on Saturday October 02, 2010 @06:41PM
(#1751552)
The Software is a web based PHP5 App running both Mysql and Oracle on top of SLES9. It collects performance information (KPIs) and sends out formatted reports (PDF/XLS) to clients & customers. It's been running on IBM Xseries 336 servers since 2005 (eek!) and really needs an upgrade. Our technical provider came up with the spec but am interested to see if cloud hosting has moved on; I understand it was a bit shakey to start with.
Re:Ask HN: $40k on physical hardware? or use the cloud?
by aristus on Saturday October 02, 2010 @06:44PM
(#1751557)
Zynga runs largely on EC2, something like 10,000 nodes. I don't know how to define "shaky", but that company bets hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue on EC2.
Re:Ask HN: $40k on physical hardware? or use the cloud?
by flannell on Saturday October 02, 2010 @06:51PM
(#1751567)
I didn't know that. I guess it scales extremely well.
Re:Ask HN: $40k on physical hardware? or use the cloud?
by flannell on Saturday October 02, 2010 @06:35PM
(#1751537)
Okay, you asked for it!
2 x Express x3550 M3 + 2 x Xeon 4C E5506 processors + 7 x 4Gb memory sticks + 2 x 73Gb disks + 1 x Qlogic raid card
1 x IBM storage DS3300 + 8 x 300Gb disks
2 x VM Ware standard 2 x SuSE 11
Also some Watchguard and Gigabit switch.
Downtime happens. It often happens when you move hardware around (say, you need another SAN or replace you switches. Cloud servers are very ver flexible; you can set up a parallel system and test it for a week. You can't do that with your own hardware without spending serious cash. The first time I rearranged my entire server set up, while sitting in a cafe, was pretty damned cool.
It also happens when hardware fails. With owned systems you have to drive to the colo in the middle of the night.
I suggest you build a minimal parallel system in a cloud and try it out. Try several providers.