[FX.php List] [OFF] Mac Hardware for FMS?

Wed Sep 2 15:15:51 MDT 2009

Thanks Dale and Bob

I'll pass along your suggestions to the client and IT consultant.

Best,
-Joel

On Sep 2, 2009, at 12:17 PM, Bob Patin wrote:

> Joel,
>
> I know that lots of guys (Steven Blackwell especially) will tell  
> you to get the fastest possible machine on the market, but in my  
> opinion, the difference in response is not that huge when you go  
> from a fairly fast machine to the latest & greatest.
>
> Having said that, I have a couple of thoughts:
>
> I'm not a fan of single-machine configurations for PHP web apps;  
> I'd consider getting 2 machines, splitting the budget so that you  
> can do so. Having said that, here are some options that I'd consider:
>
> You can buy used G5 Xserves all day long on eBay, and I've bought a  
> few and had excellent luck with all of them that I've bought. G5  
> 2.0ghz Xserves are dual-core, are really cheap to buy (I've bought  
> cluster node machines for less than $500), and work great; you can  
> find them all the time. The problem with cluster node machines  
> though is that they don't have video cards, so you need another  
> Xserve (not cluster node) to install the OS, then put the drive  
> into the cluster node for operation.
>
> Right now, http://www.macofalltrades.com has a used Power Mac  
> G5/2.3 dual-core, 250GB drive, not much RAM at all (you'd need to  
> buy 4GB or so), for only $800, which is a great price.
>
> If you're really wanting to stick with Intel Macs, you can also  
> find used Xserves on eBay that are Intel Xserves, and there are  
> always some great deals to be found. In the 12 years that I've been  
> hosting, I've probably bought 40 used Macs on eBay, and have never  
> been burned, nor have I ever bought a non-functioning machine.
>
> New Mac Pros start at $2499; you could get 2 of those, but to me  
> that's spending more than is really necessary.
>
> If it were me I'd find some used machines; I've had excellent luck  
> with them. In fact, when I started hosting CDML web apps in 1998 or  
> 1999, I got a used iMac to host a guy's solution. He still has the  
> solution running, and that iMac has been sitting in the back of my  
> server room for 12 years, running fine, for those rare occasions  
> when he needs to access his old site. Why it's still there I have  
> no idea, but the iMac has been up and running nonstop all this  
> time... :)
>
> Best,
>
>
>
>
> Bob Patin
>
>
> <new_logo_idea3_120w.jpg>
>
>
> Longterm Solutions LLC
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> On Sep 2, 2009, at 1:02 PM, Joel Shapiro wrote:
>
>> Hi all
>>
>> Hardware's not my strong suit...
>>
>> I've got a new client that's contracted me to switch them from  
>> Lasso to PHP.  Their current hadware/network setup (FMS + other  
>> duties on 1 machine, Lasso/WebServer on another) is unstable and  
>> their IT consultant is recommending they buy a new machine instead  
>> of trying to clean up all the problems they're having now.
>>
>> I've recommended they switch to a one-machine FMS config and move  
>> everything else to the other server.  The IT guy is suggesting  
>> they get a new Mac Pro for the FMS machine for $3700, but that  
>> seems excessive to me.  (Is it?)
>>
>> (The IT guy regularly "likes to have a second hard drive in there  
>> mirroring the primary one, to lessen the downtime potential".  I  
>> already got him to exclude the live DBs from his nightly  
>> SuperDuper clone backups, but it seems to me that for an FMS-only  
>> machine, it's really only necessary to regularly backup the DBs  
>> and maybe the logs, and everything else on the machine can be  
>> "cloned" just whenever the OS or website is updated... since  
>> everything except the DBs should remain constant... right?)
>>
>> I'd appreciate any thoughts or recommendations.  Can you think of  
>> other Macs that would be fully sufficient but not as expensive?
>>
>> TIA,
>> -Joel
>>
>> ## CLIENT:
>> - Nonprofit agency w/ 12 FMP users, although rarely if ever all at  
>> the same time.  A couple users work in the DB all day long.
>> - Their FM/PHP website is used 24 hrs/day for class registrations  
>> and "store" purchases.  They receive up to 40 orders per day  
>> through the site.
>> - DB was migrated to FM9 by their previous FM consultant, and  
>> contains 25 .fp7 files.
>>
>> ## CURRENT FMS MACHINE*:
>> Power Mac G5
>> Dual 2 GHz
>> 3 GB DDR SDRAM
>> OS X Server 10.4.11
>> *This machine is also used as a file server and had been used as a  
>> Now Up-to-Date server
>> Lasso/Web Server is on an even older machine (I can't get specs  
>> right now)
>>
>> ## RECOMMENDED FMS WPE MACHINE:
>> Mac Pro $3,699.00:
>> Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
>> 6GB (6x1GB)
>> 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
>> 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
>> NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
>> One 18x SuperDrive
>> OS X Server 10.6.x*
>> * Snow Leopard would require them to get FMS10; they have FMS9 now.
>>
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