Search Again: Re: Need a recommendation From: Mia''s Virtual Post Office Date: Saturday, April 5, 2003 Time: 11:17:26 am On Friday, April 4, 2003, at 01:05 PM, andrew kagan wrote: > Hi All: I'm contemplating colo'ing a few servers. One would be DNS and > the > other mail (EIMS). > > I currently have (locally) QDNS3.5 running on OS9 on one desktop box > and > EIMS 3.2 on OS9 on a second desktop box. > > I'm trying to consume as few U's as possible. Well two towers do not take up that much space. Are you being charged per U? > > As I see it, I have the following options: > > Option 1: > Use a 1U case for an IMAC, and run QuickDNS on OS9. You could use a Marathon iRack and run OX. They are easy to build: irack.mia.net > Use a 1U case for an IMAC and run EIMS 3.2 on OS9. Again, would work just fine. > Pros: low cost, stable and secure Well, not low cost to build, but I suppose if you are being charged per U (assuming colo's still do that) then the recurring cost savings may outway that. Sure the Marathon units have been stable and work just fine, however you give up expandability and dual drives/RAID, etc.. But then again you can use a firewire drive for backup. > Cons: disk access is primary importance on an EIMS server, and the > IMAC only > supports ATA, whereas I'd prefer U320 SCSI for the EIMS server. There again another con. Of course (and many argue this point) I have not really seen a huge difference between SCSI and IDE now-a-days in terms of speed. In any event with SCSI you are back up to the Tower/Desktop set up again, that or a Xserve, which is going to be a bit more expensive. > > Alternative: Put a G3/G4 in a 4U case with SCSI drives for the EIMS > server...but now I'm at 5U. Well a tower is only 4 U. Why not use a mid tower? Again, is your colo charging you per U? > > Option 2: > Get an XServe and run OSX native versions of Quick DNS and EIMS. > Pros: Fast; everything in 1U, ability to stably run both apps on a > single > box (?). > Cons: Cost of an XServe; EIMS for OSX may be in beta for some time. Yeah, you could do that as well. Again, much more expensive, probably overkill, and IMHO the Xserve takes up more space and eats more power than a Tower. Also, if you are not taking advantage of OSX on the XServe it is kinda pointless to have one. EIMS is not ready for prime time yet on OSX, hence the reason I mention that. > > I haven't experimented with QuickDNS for OSX, but the QDNS list has > been > very quiet, so I'm assuming it's working pretty well if it's configured > properly. QDNS for OSX is extremely stable. Remember OSX is running BIND and QDNS is just a management tool, not the actual DNS server. It works wonderfully. EIMS however, again, is not ready for OSX.. > > I'd welcome any comments or observations. > I'd go the tower route and find a colo that does not charge per U, but charges based on: 1. Bandwidth 2. Power 3. Space All rolled into one. Real estate is the cheapest part of the equation in the colo business and given the current state of the economy for several years there is plenty of it available. Regards, Jeremy Anthony Kinsey e-mail: jer@mia.net Colocation - Web Hosting - Wireless ________________________________________________________ Bella Mia, Inc. www.mia.net 401 Host Drive www.dslone.com Lake Geneva, WI. 53147 www.hostdrive.com Phone: (262)248-6759 www.bella-mia.com Fax: (262)248-6959

Messages In This Thread: Need a recommendation by andrew kagan on Apr 4, 2003 at 11:07:44 am Re: Need a recommendation by Men & Mice Support on Apr 4, 2003 at 11:34:35 am Re: Need a recommendation by David Schaefer on Apr 4, 2003 at 11:39:59 am Re: Need a recommendation by andrew kagan on Apr 4, 2003 at 12:06:08 pm Re: Need a recommendation by Brian Blood on Apr 4, 2003 at 1:58:53 pm Re: Need a recommendation by John May on Apr 4, 2003 at 4:12:59 pm Re: Need a recommendation by John May on Apr 4, 2003 at 4:21:44 pm Re: Need a recommendation by Mia''s Virtual Post Office on Apr 5, 2003 at 11:17:26 am Re: Need a recommendation by Brian Blood on Apr 5, 2003 at 11:56:05 am Re: Need a recommendation by Mia''s Virtual Post Office on Apr 5, 2003 at 12:22:58 pm Re: Need a recommendation by Sean Stephens on Apr 7, 2003 at 7:22:14 am