Let’s say there is a nice file server in the shop, with fast hard drives, maybe RAID, and only moderate network traffic hitting it. Let’s say there are 50 employees in all, a small business.
Does anyone have the experience to say whether Servoy Application Server can co-exist on this box if, say, a max of 20 concurrent users might be hitting the SAS at once?
Let’s say the back-end db is also of moderate scope: 30 tables, total 1 or 2 gigs of data. Let’s say that back end platform is also something midrange like MySQL or SQL Anywhere. Could the back-end db server also be run from this same box?
I know it is very hard to speak in generalities and hypotheticals, since there could be so many factors going on here, right down to the quality of the network switch … so I am only looking for general anecdotal experience as to whether existing server-class hardware can be leveraged for Servoy and it’s back end. I’m putting together some cost-comparison charts vis-a-vis another product and any illumination on this one point would help lots. As would any “issues” to watch out for in such a setup.
In my experience Servoy’s hardware requirements are very modest.
Until recently we had a Servoy customer system using Sybase with 12 tables and @ 600mb data running on a standard Dell P4 Desktop. Started out just for testing, and the Dell was only used a Server, but coped with up to 8 external users without any problems and with acceptable speed.
Have now moved out to a commercial Server with better specs, better bandwidth and using MySQL with speed improvement of about 25-30%.
If the disk usage is not too high you shouldn’t have problems with that setup, you only need a good amount of RAM.
One of my customer is running MySQL 4.1 (30 tables, 500+ MB data) and Servoy (17 clients) on a Dell 2xP3 1000 and CPU utilization is rarely above 30%. I suggest 1+ GB ram anyway.
RAID5 is a MUST HAVE in my humble opinion.
If the disk usage is very high you could install a second network adapter for Servoy so your bandwidht (I guess 100Mbit) is not entirely filled up by File Sharing).
Thanks, guys. It sounds like for the scenario I describe it’s “doable” and - unlike a certain “other piece of software” which insists you must keep your database on a dedicated machine, it is OK at least for starters, just get a separate box if it looks like you need one with no real damage done.
I’d be interested if others have shared Nicola’s experience that leads him to recommend RAID 5 as a “must have”.
Well, depending on what RAID you want to configure it can be faster and/or more secure whenever something happens.
On the other hand a customer of mine that uses several RAID systems lost 2 of them without being able to get the data back so that can happen also with a RAID system.
When you/they decide to use a RAID system make sure it is a hardware raid and not software…
IT2BE:
Well, depending on what RAID you want to configure it can be faster and/or more secure whenever something happens.
When you/they decide to use a RAID system make sure it is a hardware raid and not software…
True.
Always go for a hardware RAID.
I use RAID lvl 5 with SCSI disks, 3 18GB HDs are mirrored and striped to obtain a 33GB RAID set, it is hot swappable and secure. If a disk fail you simply replace it with a new one without any down time (as opposed to RAID lvl 1: mirroring).
The controller I’m using is the PERC that shipped with the Dell Server and, so far, everything is fine. I had to replace a disk once and had no problems while the users continued to work.
IT2BE:
On the other hand a customer of mine that uses several RAID systems lost 2 of them without being able to get the data back so that can happen also with a RAID system.
Well, maybe he was using a RAID lvl0 or lvl1 but if he was using RAID lvl5… what to say? Shit happens!
You can have 1 drive fail on a RAID 5, having 2 drives fail at the same time will make you loose all your data.
RAID 6 is suppose to be able to withstand this but of course when 3 drives fail then you are in the same situation.
Also the more drives you use in a RAID the more chance you have that a drive will fail. But then again, the more drives in a RAID the better it is for performance.
So in short: RAID is great for added performance and/or fail-safe but will never replace a good backup strategy.
ROCLASI:
So in short: RAID is great for added performance and/or fail-safe but will never replace a good backup strategy.
True.
It would be foolish not to have a rock solid backup strategy. RAID is great in the case of hardware failure but you have to also consider the human error hazard: a “delete all records” menu command will leave your table empty even with RAID77…
You also need to have a couple of spare NEW drives ready in case of hw failure, remember that if a disk fail nowadays is usually for age reason so if you need to order the new hd and wait for days you really risk that a second or third drive could fail in the meantime.
The strategy I’m using is this:
RAID5 (3 disks, hw controller);
2 spare drives ready in case of failure;
1 automatic backup each night (mon to sun) in a folder on the raid set;
a DAT copy of the backup folder each monday morning;
This way I always have the last seven days of backups ready on the disk for a fast restore, and a dat tape with a month or so of backups.
But if you are really paranoid you should take into account that even with this strategy a fire in the office would wipe all your data and backups away so you should take a copy at home, etc. etc.
We are never really safe from dataloss, but, well: this is life!
kazar:
so I am only looking for general anecdotal experience as to whether existing server-class hardware can be leveraged for Servoy and it’s back end. I’m putting together some cost-comparison charts vis-a-vis another product and any illumination on this one point would help lots. As would any “issues” to watch out for in such a setup.
I have been running a very similar set up to this ie Mac Xserve Dual G4, Lasso, MySQL4, Servoy and 20dbs with the largest having 3gb of data and 10 Servoy users + up to 5 demo users. So far - fingers crossed! - this has been fine.
My observations would be its risky and I am doing something about reducing the risk ie dedicated Servoy, db and lasso servers. However I think you also need to consider the reality of the customers/your situation. If you have 10 users using Servoy flat out with lots of large data transactions and perhaps a high traffic web site then its not appropriate, however in my case I have a very low traffic web requirement and the same with Servoy.
Mind you if it blows up I am going to be well and truly stuffed and so is the client who’s using it! To save your stress levels I would be inclined to go for a hosted solution with someone like Lee McNeil at Shouri, you get control, he gets the stress! www.shouri.com