Processor for webserver @home

[buju]

I am looking for some opinions and feed back. I want to build a new system to use as a webserver. Because of budget and school, I am looking at buying an AMD Duron 1.2GHZ with at least 256RAM. I will be running it in text mode and would be using PostGresql as my database with Apache and Tomcat. That's that will be on this machine, I got another P166MMX I'm using as my file server and domain controller. I'm wondering if this is a worthwhile investment, I know later I can upgrade the processor. Should I invest in this or go with an Intel. I got am AMD Duron 850 I'm using at home with Windows XP and Redhat 7.3 and it runs well. I've done a bit of reading and a lot of people are using the Durons.


Guys using Durons as a WebServer tell me how much your system is kicking. I want to get it by next week. I am sure it would work fine. I got faith in Linux, but would like to hear from others.

[andycrofts]

..for a webserver the system you're looking at is probably an overkill. 'Course, it'll work fine.
Personally, our department (training in Nokia) ran an old Compaq-Deskpro 600 @233MHz system, 128 meg ram, couple of old (but good!) SCSI drives. Got hundreds of hits/day (as you can imagine) never batted an eyelid. ran for 2 years without once going down. It was just 'forgoten' about, except for the weekly backup onto tape (which was a cron job). In fact, when I wanted the machine, the 'owner' couldn't remember where it was! Found it eventually tucked behind aa rack, covered in dust.
It's now my main machine for web-browsing and accessing the HP-UX servers our system resides on. Still kicks ***...

I hear that Tomcat's a bit 'interesting' to get going. Do you need it? We use it in a product, but I suspect only 'cos the designers are 'java freaks'

As you mention school, I guess it's not going to be an 'enterprise-class' server.

Save yer money!
-Just my opinion.;)

(P.S. Checkout O'reilly's "Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL". Excellent step-by-step howto)

[buju]

Thanks for the info., I think that it will do what I want it to do. Presently I have Tomcat and Apache set up on my 166MMX and it runs ok, but I don't want to have everything on one machine. The site I am going to set up, I want it to get data from the database. I play around with Java a lot and I like it. I am doing Object-Oriented Design in school so it gives me the opportunity to apply and better understand the concepts.

[miteycasey]

IMHO
I would go with what Andy said. The machine you want would be over kill expecially since it wouldn't be in the enterprise environment. I would save my money and get something cheaper or use the 166. Because speed really won't be an issue after you get everything up.
Use the money to by beer!