For those spending too much on hosting costs... Get one of these.

Status
Not open for further replies.
bb_wolfe

bb_wolfe

Medicinal KFC
Jan 1, 2008
3,114
108
0
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System
(Not aff link, direct to dell.com)

Just a PSA: I bought 4 of these earlier this month. (2x250G, 4G, dual 1000gb nics.)

The Dell T105 server is a perfect entry level machine for those wishing to cut all the $4/month hosting packages they have.

If you know how to read, getting your sites up on this or running a VM with CentOS and a free control panel will be a snap. You'll need to slap an OS on it, doesn't come with one by default.

I just needed 4 box load balanced cluster for an app I'm building so I went the cheapo route and bought these, but DAMN, are they solid little machines.

I didn't get the RAID controller upgrades becuase I have a SAN, but if you want the 2 drives mirrored, I suggest you get the $200 upgrade. If you're running sites on it, you'll want the drives mirrored.

Anywho, I'm just happy enough with these boxes that I wanted to share with anyone here looking to mitigate their yearly hosting costs. If you have at least 1mbit up and down, you can easily run a bunch of landing pages and sites on this box and that connection.

Good little box for $500.
 


I've actually been looking at that model over the past couple of weeks. I'm planning on using several virtual machines on it (db, web server, home server). From what you've experienced so far, do you think it would hold up?
 
Those are not rackmount servers. Poor choice if you plan on doing serious hosting, where you would need to put them in a datacenter.
 
tweak50 said:
I've actually been looking at that model over the past couple of weeks. I'm planning on using several virtual machines on it (db, web server, home server). From what you've experienced so far, do you think it would hold up?
Click to expand...

The free VMware virtual server should be fine assuming you get at least 4 gigs RAM (800mhz) and a 2.4 mhz processor.

The quirk with VM's is this: You need to feed it more than you would the same number of physical boxes. I/O is increased, memory ranges are reserved, etc.

If you're going to use the T105 for 4 operating systems (Host+3 VMs) then you'll want to get this:

2x500Gb HDDs with a RAID1 controller
Dual NICs
8GB 800mhz RAM
2.4MHZ processor (or Quad if you can afford it)

If you're using VMWARE ESX (can be gotten off Bittorrent) you can run all 4 with 1 Gig each on the 2 drives, just use 2 OS's per drive.

PM if you want my setup.
 
sloop said:
Those are not rackmount servers. Poor choice if you plan on doing serious hosting, where you would need to put them in a datacenter.
Click to expand...



Are you fucking serious? Who migrates from 5-6 $4/month hosting plans to a fucking datacenter? And it's no big deal to pop then in a NOC. Just because it's rackmounted doesn't mean it's not a good webserver.


Welcome to failtown, population YOU.
 
bb_wolfe said:
The free VMware virtual server should be fine assuming you get at least 4 gigs RAM (800mhz) and a 2.4 mhz processor.

The quirk with VM's is this: You need to feed it more than you would the same number of physical boxes. I/O is increased, memory ranges are reserved, etc.

If you're going to use the T105 for 4 operating systems (Host+3 VMs) then you'll want to get this:

2x500Gb HDDs with a RAID1 controller
Dual NICs
8GB 800mhz RAM
2.4MHZ processor (or Quad if you can afford it)

If you're using VMWARE ESX (can be gotten off Bittorrent) you can run all 4 with 1 Gig each on the 2 drives, just use 2 OS's per drive.

PM if you want my setup.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to do some more research into this before I jump in.

Subscribed to your blog, gotta ask why windows virtualization is such shit though (never used or read anything about it)
 
tweak50 said:
Thanks for the advice, I'll have to do some more research into this before I jump in.

Subscribed to your blog, gotta ask why windows virtualization is such shit though (never used or read anything about it)
Click to expand...


Currently, the 2005 virtualization product from MS lacks a lot of basic VM functionality. Needs a host OS to function, which steals resources from the VMs. 2008 server has a 'core' installation option that you can load IIS on and scale to almost 3 additional servers per physical host.

There is a big difference between Server 2008 (Hyper-V) and the Virtual 2005 product. Bottom line is 2008 is ok, but not appropriate for enterprise deployments. For a webserver, 2008 is fine.

Thanks for the blog subscribe. I have a HUGE (350,000 people affected) project deploying on July 1 so I've been sort of not updating the blog, but thanks for subscribing, I'll be updating it a LOT after the 1st. Sorry for the disjoined post, the Fingerbang episode of South Park is on.
 
Sorry, but hosting landing pages off of a home internet connection is fucking stupid.
bb_wolfe said:
Are you fucking serious? Who migrates from 5-6 $4/month hosting plans to a fucking datacenter? And it's no big deal to pop then in a NOC. Just because it's rackmounted doesn't mean it's not a good webserver.


Welcome to failtown, population YOU.
Click to expand...
If you're paying $20/mo for hosting (in your above example), how does buying a $500 server save money? The $500 server will also cost about $100/year in electricity. So you used to pay $240/year for hosting, and changed that to a $100/year electiricy expense + a $500 server.

Why not just get a fucking bigger shared hosting plan? Normal shared hosting plans have too many limitations? Buy a reseller hosting plan!
 
Sounds interesting but I'll stick to my $10/month hosting plan with 999 hosted domain, thanks.
 
johu said:
Sorry, but hosting landing pages off of a home internet connection is fucking stupid.If you're paying $20/mo for hosting (in your above example), how does buying a $500 server save money? The $500 server will also cost about $100/year in electricity. So you used to pay $240/year for hosting, and changed that to a $100/year electiricy expense + a $500 server.

Why not just get a fucking bigger shared hosting plan? Normal shared hosting plans have too many limitations? Buy a reseller hosting plan!
Click to expand...


Not saying you're wrong, but think about how limited you are with a shared or VPS account. If all you're doing is LPs, then it really doesn't matter. A 90K landingpage will fire just as fast on a 1.5mbit pipe as it will on a shared box on a DS3.

Personally, I don't like being told 'no' to, so when I have an idea, a technology, or a software package that I want to use and my host only has some shitty, out of date LAMP on a cluster with 2.9 million other domains, it makes me kind of question just how successful and innovative I can really become.

Shared hosting == riding the bus to work
Dedi == Driving yourself

And the variable costs for an in house box (home or office) are MUCH less than you'd think.
 
Does your home internet connection have an uptime guarantee? Do you have backup generators in case your power goes out?

If shared hosting doesn't give you enough control, get a VPS or VDS. It'll be a lot safer than hosting at home if you go with a reputable host.
 
Yes how much reliable is your home internet connection to power these monsters and what is the uptime figure you have in mind ?
 
Why is everyone so up in arms about him posting a link to a deal on a server? If self hosting isn't your thing then move on.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom