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The decision has been made and there is no turning back. The business web site has been having problems due to hardware and bandwidth resources, and to elevate those problems, a dedicated server is planned. Everything seems to be running smoothly till you actually order dedicated server. What was the problem now? The features are overwhelming and you don't know what to do? Don't panic. This type of scenario is common to all businesses.
Hardware Issues
Server hardware is an important factor in the delivery of reliable and efficient service. This is often why business organizations choose industry-recognised brands, such as, Intel, Sun, Cobalt RaQ, Digital and Apple. Choosing the appropriate hardware will be determined by cost, support, compatibility and scalability. Digital (now acquired by Compaq) is one of the industries most recognised brands in the server market but the cost is often higher than the product lines of Intel Corporation. Intel hardware eg microprocessors, chipsets, motherboards are relatively inexpensive and is supported by a wide range of vendors and software platforms. Finding the balance of each option and analysing your own requirements will allow you to make an appropriate decision.
Cobalt RaQs and slim blade servers two alternative types of web server hardware. Both types are specially designed hardware that is both compact and use only a small amount of rack space. The cost saving in rack space is often passed back to the consumer. Both types of web server can handle between 100-300 web sites and are often bundled with administration control panels. The web based control panels are a graphical user interface that provides the tools to manage the web server.
Storage
The size of hard disks is getting cheaper and larger every month. Choosing the right size will very much depend on your purpose and applications. However, no matter the size, the speed (access and seek times) of the hard disk will need to be relatively fast to store and retrieve data. For example, hard disks that are spinning at 10000 RPM (revolutions per minute) will have considerable impact on data access, and that is good for web serving activities.
There are two common types of hard disk drives, EIDE and SCSI. Firstly, EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics) is found in most personal computers, as they are relatively inexpensive. EIDE transfer data between the hard disk and main memory using a shared channel eg 2 hard disk drive on the same EIDE cable would use the same channel, and so as more EIDE disk drives added to the system, it will soon degrade the performance. SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) on the other hand, use dedciated channels for each hard drive or SCSI device but are higher priced than its EIDE counterparts. This is why SCSI systems are often chosen for mission-critical applications. For a web server, SCSI would be a criterion to look for.
If the dedicated server will be used for mission-critical applications then a RAID set up would serve its purpose. Basically RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) allows the storage of data to be stored on across multiple hard disk. If one hard disk fails, then the other mirror hard disk will take its place - stopping unnecessary down time or data loss. There are also multiple layers of RAID, starting from 0. The higher the RAID level, the more complex the redundant mechanism be become.
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