[WEB4LIB] server purchase

[Lee Jaffe]

At 8:59 PM -0800 12/27/01, Xiaowen Gao wrote:
>I am trying to select a Dell server that use as a web
>server for Intranet/Internet.  I wonder if you can
>recommend any type of server that is good for this
>purpose, what is the best operation system currently?
>What should I pay attention to choose the right one?
>What options should I add into the shopping basket?
>Thanks.

I would say that the key features you would choose are:

	processor(s):
	storage:
	memory:
	bandwidth:
	redundancy:
	security/recovery:
	expandability:
	support:

Richard Goerwitz has already mentioned some of the key considerations:

   1) the operating systems you are comfortable using
   2) the amount of traffic you expect to handle
   3) the degree of reliability you are required to provide

To this I would add the applications you will be running.  If you are
just serving out static HTML pages -- even a large number -- you could
get by with a simple network device such as a SnapServer and forget
about a full-scale server solution.  On the other hand, if you are running
a full range of Web applications on an "enterprise" basis, with a lot of
reliability and bandwidth requirements, you should be thinking about a
fairly high-end machine supporting multiple processors, lots of memory,
"hot-pluggable" drives, RAID, multiple fast network connections, with room
to expand all the foregoing, bullet-proof backup and recovery, a large
sophisticated UPS, and a short-turnaround service contract.  Given certain
expectations, you might want install  multiple servers.  In other words,
there are a lot more questions than answers.

-- Lee Jaffe, UC Santa Cruz