OGA is seeking a hosting sponsor. :)
Friday, May 20, 2011 - 16:06
Hi folks!
You may have noticed we've been having a fair amount of downtime recently. OGA is outgrowing our current server, and we're seeking someone to host us. In exchange, we'll put up a 220x220 ad for you. We're currently pulling an average of ~2000 unique visitors per day, with ~14,000 impressions daily. At any rate, here are the minimum specs we would need:
- Dedicated server.
- Quad core, 64 bit CPU
- 4 gigs of ram (prefer 8, but negotiable)
- 500GB hard drive space
- 1+ TB monthly transfer
- 100 megabit connection
- Root access
- 64-bit CentOS, RedHat, or Fedora
- Autonomy (that is, apart from posting your image and ensuring that everything is legal, I remain in control of OGA)
- OR -
- 2 units of rack space
- 100 megabit connection
- 1+ TB monthly transfer
- OR -
- $120/month to cover the cost of a co-located server with these specs
Please note that our requirements, particularly bandwidth and hard drive space, will likely increase with time (although the above requirements leave us with a safety factor of 4). If you or your organization would be willing to provide hosting space, please contact me either via the site contact form or IRC.
Thanks for your interest!
Bart K.
Comments
Have you thought about asking the FSF whether they know a suitable sponsor? (Sorry about any mistakes, I am really drunk at the moment of writing this^^).
That's a pretty idea for a drunk dude. I'll see about doing that. :)
Bart
Well, this idea was inside my head for some time, but i didn't find the time to post it ;-) .
I'm guessing that the FSF would object to Google ads and the "CentOS, RedHat, or Fedora" requirement.
If the Google ads were replaced by Ad Bard ones and you don't mind using a Fully Free distribution (such as Trisquel GNU/Linux) then this will not be a problem.
I'd be willing to remove the google ads as a condition of the hosting -- honestly, they're aren't performing as I'd hoped, so I'm probably just going to get rid of them anyway.
As for my choice of operating system, I'm not willing to budge on that. Furthermore, if they have an issue with there being non-libre things on here, it wouldn't work out anyway -- I still need to be able to encode MP3 files for the fallback sound previews (although I'm going to be providing HTML5+ogg for the browsers that can handle it).
In summary, getting a sponsor would be nice, but I would prefer to pay out of pocket for my own preferred hosting setup than have free (gratis) hosting and be constrained by it.
The FSF is a really good organization, but they tend to be overzealous, even by most FOSS advocates. As far as I'm concerned, a person should always use whatever tool is best for the task. If it's Windows or Mac or whatever, then use it. I find Linux the best OS for my purposes.
"Getting a sponsor would be nice, but I would prefer to pay out of pocket for my own preferred hosting setup than have free (gratis) hosting and be constrained by it" Pretty much sums up where the FSF goes wrong. Oddly enough, being "liberated" by using free software CAN constrain a person, if they deny that other software can/should be used.
How much money is needed per month? All this technical stuff is fine but business people need a dollar amount.
How much money is needed per month? All this technical stuff is fine but business people need a dollar amount.
Well, I'm asking for the actiual hosting, and not cash. :)
That being said, I believe I could purchase this for roughly $120/month, so if someone were willing to sponsor us that way, it would be just as good.
Bart
Hey,
Can i ask, why do you need such high specs?
for what the quad core, root access and 4 gigs of ram?
Is there anything behind the site which needs such a root?
Can i ask, why do you need such high specs?
for what the quad core, root access and 4 gigs of ram?
OGA is a hog -- it's that simple. :)
The long version is that I make use of a Drupal module called views, which queries an awful lot of data, sometimes more than it needs, strictly speaking. That said, views can be built in a GUI and it speeds development up a lot. Since there's only one of me, it's cheaper to throw hardware at the problem than it would be to throw hundreds of hours at it to optimize everything, particularly since I'm in the process of completely revamping the site. At the moment, our current server has 2 gigs of ram. Even after all sorts of database tweaks and apache tweaks and website caching tweaks to make it run leaner, we're getting traffic at a level that's exceeding what the server can handle. At the moment, RAM is our biggest bottleneck. A quad core server would just make things faster, particularly since we're usually getting hit by several users at a time, and the queries can be processor intensive.
Is there anything behind the site which needs such a root?
Yes. Me. :)
I do web development professionally and I run my own servers. When I need to change a setting, I don't want to be limited by someone else's settings. I don't want to be limited to a certain number of databases. I don't want to have to go through a panel interface in order to get anything done. I work fastest at the command line, and with access to adjust things like apache and mysql configuration. If OGA ever gets to the point where it's no longer under active development (which seems highly unlikely) then I might consider a managed solution, but for the time being I don't want to have to work around the restrictions of managed hosting. I've dealt with it before and I hate it.
For the record, I realize that I'm asking for a lot. I'm mostly doing it on the chance that someone will be willing to provide the specs we need (or the money to buy them). I'm prepared to front the money myself rather than go with something less than what I'm asking for.
Bart
Ah that's the thing.
Well i was thinking about helping you since I love 2D games and have a project too.
But there would be some limitations because i doesn't own the server bymyself (the costs would be too high ;x).
The other thing would be that all donation should go to feed the costs.
And the server is in germany.
I'll talk to my friend, if you're interested i'll register and send you contact data.
While I appreciate the offer, I think we'll probably have to decline. I'm a bit too demanding for a shared server, and I think I'd probably end up stepping on everyone's toes, which is something I'd rather avoid. Thanks though -- as I said, I appreciate the thought! :)
Bart
Yeah i got your point, that's what i was worried about too. I hope you find something usefull for your project!
I have the capability to provide some assistance with bandwidth and such, but I am not sure how to contact you privately. Is there a page or anything I can send you my email?