The page details the planned upgrade path for the site as its traffic increases. Since this is a moving target it is likely subject to change at any time.
Upgrade HistoryEdit
The overall server upgrade history of the site is as follows:
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- Pre 2003? -- Server is run on a variety of dedicated servers.
- Pre 2005 -- Move to a small virtual server.
- 2005-2006 -- Hosted on a single, low powered (512MB RAM, 2.4GHz Celeron), dedicated server.
- Aug 2007 -- Dedicated server is upgraded slightly.
- Dec 2007 -- A dedicated Squid cache server is implemented (squid1).
- Aug 2008 -- Moved to a deciated database server (db1).
- Feb 2009 -- Two more content servers purchased (content2/3).
- Feb 2010 -- A dedicated static content server (files1) is purchased for images, CSS, JavaScript, etc....
- Oct 2010 -- A dedicated off-site backup server is purchased.
Upgrade PlanEdit
There are currently no immediate upgrade or migration plans
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- Move to a dedicated server rack (~250$/month). This would put all the site's servers (except the off-site backup1) into a single rack permitting GigaBit intra server Ethernet speeds which might improve site performance a bit. It would also consolidate the server bandwidth into a single pool which would not count any inter-server communication.
- Dynamic DNS service for backup1. This would permit the server to be accessed more easily from the Internet (it is currently sitting behind a NAT router).
- files1 may need upgraded if its disk access begins to become high (currently ~5%). Options include a more powerful disk system (i.e, some sort of RAID using faster disks), be duplicated or put behind squid1 or a similar load balancer.
- db1 may need to be upgraded or sharded if its CPU usage begins to become too high (currently at ~10%).
- Content servers should be fine for a while and more can be easily added as needed.
- The single squid1 should similarly be good for a while although a second Squid cache and a dedicated/backup load balancer sitting in front of them is an option.
CostsEdit
Currently the site pays for itself from revenue generated by Google Adsense. Unfortunately, this revenue is inconsistent and can vary dramatically from month to month. Currently any excess revenue is being kept for future uses. Recent ad revenue easily supports the site's current 6 servers. It is important not to expand too quickly or the server cost will quickly overcome the site revenue.
Currently the dedicated servers cost in the range of 50-100$Cnd/month depending on the needed features. Once you get to a 100-200$ machine it is generally better to get two 100$ machines rather than go much past 200$/month although this depends on the purpose of the server (for example, a single more powerful database server might be much easier to manage than trying to shard into multiple master-slave servers).