Better configuration using two servers or not?

[ASTRAPI]

Hello

I want to ask for a very high traffic forum and a few graphics in the forum is it better to use one server like this:

* 2x Intel Xeon Quad 5405
* 8192 MB FB DDR2 RAM
* 500 GB 7.200 RPM

or to use 2 servers like this one for the forum php files and one for the sql database?

# Intel C2Q Q8200 2.33Ghz
# 4096 MB DDR2 RAM
# 500 GB 7.200 RPM


And finaly what software to use like haproxy or nginix or squid or virnish or some apache modules like mpm?

Thank you

[Bohra]

I Would use nginix and probably go for the second option server basically u can divide how things work that way

[RonBrown]

Forums don't really need a lot of processing power, they need to ability to shift lots of data quickly.

I'd save money on the exta CPUs and get a better disk subsystem in place maybe running RAID10 or 6 and a decent RAID controller with lot of cache memory and SAS drives.

Also, sticking a couple of quad-core cpus with a single 500GB drive seems a lot of power for a crappy disk system (I like SATA, I use them, but a single drive with that much CPU power doesn't make any sense).

Maybe stick in some more memory if the OS can handle it, but it might not be necessary.

Just a few years ago 2 x Xeon 800MHz fsb CPUs were the top-end of the power machines. The new quad-cores leave these older CPUs in the dust, so CPU power is rarely the limiting factor for the average server or web site.

If I had to choose, I'd go for the 2 low powered servers with the ability to upgrade them. A low powered web server (for PHP) and an better spec'd server for MySQL (good controllers and fast drives being more important than CPUs) would make the most sense if the forum is busy but you then have network latencies to worry about,the speed of the network, how busy it is, how secure it is etc etc. So, maybe better off with a single server, see how it goes, and separate if necessary.

[kailash]

Separating webserver and mysql will surly give you better performance.

[RHS-Chris]

Originally Posted by kailash

Separating webserver and mysql will surly give you better performance.

I agree, separating them will see the best performance. Another thing to note though, if you can, add a faster drive to your mysql server, as this will help immensely as well.

[theapparatus]

Just to clarify, this appears to be a continuation of this thread:

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1549131

Originally Posted by kailash

Separating webserver and mysql will surly give you better performance.

Not necessarily. We have a two server set up for one of our sites and we actually have memcache on the second box along with the uploaded files. All apache does a lot of the time is pass along the requests to the second box.

[ASTRAPI]

Ok so i will need a server with cpanel and forum files.

Another one with mysql/phpmyadmin for my databases.

And memcache where?

[theapparatus]

I'd put it on the second box (the one with mysql) and monitor loads.

To be honest, memcache likes RAM memory. Lots of it. Not sure if memcache and mysql will go well with 4 gigs of memory. May just have to do just the databases and see how things go.

[ASTRAPI]

Ok so maybe i can try this:

Server one for mysql database only and memcache:

# Intel C2Q Q9550 2.83Ghz
# 8192 MB DDR2 RAM
# 500 GB 7.200 RPM

And for forum files only and cpanel:

# Intel C2Q Q8200 2.33Ghz
# 4096 MB DDR2 RAM
# 500 GB 7.200 RPM

It will be fast and able to handle many sql connections and serv fast all the post contents?

[theapparatus]

That's probably work as a test. Server one would actually be the forum files while server 2 would be the mysql database server. (edit: The specs are fine, just have them named backwards.) Maybe best to make the mysql server not visible to the net with a private IP address and only connected to the forum box. That's something you;re going to have to get with with your datacenter/ host/ rack provider/ colocation provider/ whomever though as that requires a special setup.