[WEB4LIB] Purchasing a server for a small library

[sean dreilinger]

Naomi Lloyd wrote:
> Here's my question: If I know I only want one processor and a single hard
> drive on my machine (we're a very small library), is there any reason to go
> with a server rather than a PC with an internal tape back up and UPS?

a good place to start might be to review the load (web traffic
summaries, unix load average, any other measures easily available) on
the existing server and then guestimate use for your new service/server.

if the web server your are planning for will dish out static html
documents to a few hundred users you could probably squeeze it onto your
existing web server (why not upgrade from ncsa to apache there for a
nice performance gain?), or recycle an old 486 into a linux box to
handle the new web service.

the advice from james klock is absolutely right - there's big quality,
performance, and reliability differences - but you have lots of
inexpensive options if your service requirements don't call for
high-availability or the budget for new toys just isn't there.

BTW thats a gorgeous imagemap on your homepage :-)

--
                          sean dreilinger, mlis
                          mailto:sean at durak.org
                          http://durak.org/sean