Building a Web Server

What hardware do I need and what software?

[wfernley]

Hi everyone. Well I am building a server so we can host our site inhouse. I was curious what specs I need for running Linux, Apache, PHP & MySQL. I am kinda new at this so I apologize if I don't really know what I am talking about.

I was curious though where I can also download Linux. Also, what version should I get and what version of Apache should I get?

Thanks :)

Wes

[olwen]

My development server at home has a 200MHz Pentium II running Fedora FC-2. There are 3 hard drives, from memory 2 x 2Gb drives and one 4Gb drive. For a live server you would want better, but just how good depends on the site.

[wfernley]

Yeah I guess I should have included that, the server will be running 3 sites as of next month and maybe a couple more in 6 to 12 months. They will be getting lots of hits so I would need something decent.

[peterdaly]

What does lots of hits mean? "Lots" is a very relative measurement statistic.

What type of "applications" will the site be running? Relatively static sites could certainly run just fine with many users on a 200mhz server.

I would suggest a brand new "entry level" server. If you don't already know you need more than that, there's a good chance an entry level server would more than fit your needs. If course you can buy additional redundancy depending on business need and budget.

[encyclo]

As for the Linux question, all of the major distributions offer Apache/PHP/MySQL, so it depends on other factors which one you should choose.

If you want paid support, try Red Hat Enterprise Server or SUSE Enterprise. If you have lots of UNIX experience, try Gentoo. If you want pointy-clicky newbie-friendly, try Mandrakelinux. If you're looking for security-paranoia, try OpenBSD (which is not Linux at all). If you want a good all-rounder but you don't want to learn, try Red Hat Fedora, and if you want to learn, try FreeBSD.

[redhat.com...]

[suse.com...]

[gentoo.org...]

[mandrakelinux.com...]

[openbsd.org...]

[fedora.redhat.com...]

[freebsd.org...]

When buying your hardware, make sure it works under Linux - for a server, you're much safer than for a desktop, but ask the vendor to make sure.

[wfernley]

Well right now we get about 200 visits a day on two of our sites and we will be putting up a third next month. These statistics are climbing as well and our site will get quite busy.

I have been looking around and I guess I should be running Fedora but I am contemplating going between 2 and 3. Anyone know if 3 will do me or does it have a lot of bugs considering its new?

I will be setting up some sort of redundancy on our server as well. I was going to hook up two 160GB hard drives. I wasn't going to have a hardware mirror though I was going to do it in Linux, which I heard I can do. Would this work?

How about Apache HTTP Server, what version should I be using? 1.3, 2.0 or 2.1?

Thanks for the help :)

Wes

[encyclo]

If you go for Fedora, it's better to keep up to date and go for the latest one. As for the Apache version, Fedora comes with Apache 2.0.xx IIRC - unless you're going to roll your own version, then use the one in the distribution as you'll get appropriate security updates for it. Personally, I prefer the better-established 1.3, though.

At 200 visits a day, you could use a 386 - so a decent entry-level server will do the job just nicely even when the traffic increases. Of course, it does depend on how CPU-intensive are any web apps you will be running.

[wfernley]

Alright. Well we want this server to run for a while so we were talking about even getting a P4 3GHZ. I noticed there are two downloads for Fedora 3. i386 and x86_64 what is the different. is x86 64bit? so I would want to go with the i386?

[encyclo]

The x86_64 is for 64 bit processors. A P4 is a 32 bit processor, so you need to choose the standard i386 version.

A P4 3Ghz sounds just right.

[wfernley]

OK Great. Thanks for your help :)

Wes

[peterdaly]

3Ghz is massivly overkill for the immediate need. I'm not saying you sound not get it. Not at all. Overkill is a good thing. Always overbuild. You can always use unused resources as needed, as opposed to needing resources that don't exist. The trick is knowing what you need, and not building/buying less.

If I just did the quick math right, you are talking about 1 visitor every 2.5 minutes if 200 are spread evenly over an 8 hour period. Generally that means the server will only be serving at most a small handleful of requests at any given time under normal conditions. Your results may vary. Any new server should be able to handle that no sweat.

This question could have a much different answer if we were talking thousands, or hundreds of thousands (or more!) visits a day, which I why I was looking for a hard number. You say "lots" and some of us immediate think in numbers with a lot more digits than yours.

You should not have any problems with the server you mentioned for that level of traffic.