[vox] Stuff you really need to run a GNU/Linux network

[Gandalf Parker]

On Sun, 12 Sep 2010, Brian Lavender wrote:
>> Interesting.
>> Ive run servers for over a decade. It doesnt use any of that.
>> But its an interesting viewpoint.
>
> How many users do you have?

Just friends and family, and any project on my favorite forums that needed 
a home to get going. A "cat /etc/passwd | wc" says 140 so Id say about 
100 active after admin accounts.

Here is a kindof semi-explanation and semi-pitch for what I do..
http://www.Dom3Minions.com/ServerInfo.htm

Its been very stable. But then it hasnt been running anything very fancy. 
Nothing I would want to charge anyone to use. On the other hand, the only 
major down time it had was when it blew a power supply. The gamers using 
the machine put up a donation button quickly generating enough to not only 
get the power supply but also an upgrade on memory.

My 8 IP block gives me 5 usable dedicated IPs. At first I had every 
machine, including servers desktops and game consoles, with their own. But 
I finally DHCP'd the desktops and got a few extras so I had another 
throw-away machine setup as a server.

The second server was for some of the low-internet but cpu intensive 
things I wanted to shift off of the main server. A build-site, and 
code-site, for the MUD (online multiplayer world). And for map generation 
for my favorite game (Dominions 3). Some heavy processing crons for log 
auditing. And as a machine to store backups of the main server (with a 
very slow rsync running). That split was nice for awhile. Unfortunately 
that machine developed problems I havent been able to get repaired yet.

The main server now has some glitches, such as overheat notices. But its 
still chugging along.

Gandalf  Parker