[Duckington]

Hi,

I'm looking to setup (purchase use of) a dedicated server pretty soon and I had a couple of questions regarding some of the customisation options I'm not too sure of:

1. OS - The options they have are CentOS (32 & 64), Debian (32, 64), Ubuntu (32, 64). Is there any real advantage or disadvantage, firstly to using 64bit or 32bit, and then secondly to using any of those 3 flavours in particular? I know we use CentOS here at work for our servers, but I imagine the others are basically the same when it comes to administration are they not? Do they offer any advantages or disadvantages? Or is it really just a matter of personal preference?

2. Port Speed - They have both 10Mbit and 100Mbit at the same price, so I was just going to go for the 100Mbit since it is larger..but does it make any difference? I don't know anything about port speeds really.

3. Would it be better to go for a Dual core with higher processor speed (e.g. 3.1), or a quad core with lower (e.g. 2.13)? As they are both pretty much the same price (again, I know very little about this sort of thing so just assumed quad core would be better).

Edit:

In case it helps, I am expecting a maximum of about 100 users on the system at any one time, but with the possibility in the future of expanding that, probably about maybe somewhere around 40-50 requests per second at a peak-ish time. The websites on the server will all be very heavily AJAX related, so I am looking for very quick responses and minimal lag.


Cheers.

This post has been edited by Duckington: 10 May 2012 - 08:52 AM

[DarenR]

I use `unbutu with a pentium 4, 100mbps card and so far no troubles.

[FiendKing04]

Hello there!

I am not quite to as to whether this thread is still relevant or not, but I have a bit of experience with dedi(cated) servers, so hopefully I can answer some of your questions and concerns!

Duckington, on 10 May 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

I'm looking to setup [...] a dedicated server pretty soon [...]

Congratulations! Dedicated servers are a ton of fun, I promise!

Duckington, on 10 May 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

1. OS - The options they have are CentOS (32 & 64), Debian (32, 64), Ubuntu (32, 64).

As far as I am concerned, it all comes down to a matter of preference. I prefer Debian GNU/Linux because it is what I am used to and comfortable with. A close friend of mine prefers CentOS, and yet another uses Ubuntu (A quick note: Ubuntu, for those who don't know, is based off of Debian; however, there are some important differences to note; Google it for more information). So for those, all three are good choices, and you really can't go wrong no matter which one you decide to go with. If you're really unsure as to which one you want, Google each one and read some articles about them, and you could even try installing a virtualization program and downloading each one and trying them out first hand (a Live CD works as well).

Now as far as whether to go with 32- or 64-bit: For servers, I definitely recommend 64-bit, especially if your server has more than 3GB of RAM (if you install more than 3GB, the 32-bit OS won't recognize the extra RAM; for a more detailed explanation, feel free to ask on here or Google it). Basically, if they offer you 64-bit, I'd take it. It can't hurt.

Duckington, on 10 May 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

2. Port Speed - They have both 10Mbit and 100Mbit at the same price, so I was just going to go for the 100Mbit since it is larger..but does it make any difference?

If they offer a higher speed for the same price, go for it! It definitely can't hurt to have that extra speed lying around, especially if you happen to get a sudden influx of visitors. Plus, maybe it's only a temporary special, and if you don't grab it now, it could be gone!

Duckington, on 10 May 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

3. Would it be better to go for a [d]ual core with higher processor speed [...], or a quad core with lower [...]?

Some people debate on this, but for me, the choice is obvious: More physical and/or logical cores means your server can assign more intensive applications to their own cores, while still leaving cores open for other processing. In addition, for those demanding application, if they support it, they can even use multiple cores to work even harder.


Hopefully you get around to reading this, and it helps! Cheers to you as well mate!

[no2pencil]

FiendKing04, on 13 August 2012 - 12:20 AM, said:

Duckington, on 10 May 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

1. OS - The options they have are CentOS (32 & 64), Debian (32, 64), Ubuntu (32, 64).

Now as far as whether to go with 32- or 64-bit: For servers, I definitely recommend 64-bit, especially if your server has more than 3GB of RAM (if you install more than 3GB, the 32-bit OS won't recognize the extra RAM; for a more detailed explanation, feel free to ask on here or Google it). Basically, if they offer you 64-bit, I'd take it. It can't hurt.

32big OSes can address up to 4gb.

If you are running 64bit architecture, then use the 64bit os. Not terribly difficult (& imo, shouldn't even be a decision)

[FiendKing04]

I knew that the architecture played a part in it, and I apologize for my mistake in stating 3GB instead of 4GB. My mistake.