Jeff Keller wrote:
> Obviously server horsepower and user type profile have everything to do
> with "capacity", but I'd be curious to know how many sites some of you
> are running on a single box.
>
> I get nervous with more than 100 web/mail hosting sites on a box (w/ a
> 15 user per site average) and I'll deploy another box when I get to 100
> sites. My servers are very idle so I could probably go to 500
> sites--but that's a lot of eggs in one basket...
We've had NO problem with 200+ sites per box.
That's a holdover from the Cobalt days. Certainly the systems are far
more powerful these days (depending on the hardware you choose) but then
again, back in the early 2000's you'd have static sites and folks who
checked email a few times a day. Not so, any longer!
As for the "eggs in a basket", that's a matter of personal comfort. If
there were a worst case scenario for us and a machine "flamed out,"
(actually, we've had one flare up on us before - literal flame), then
we're activating a cold spare and importing last night's backup. It
makes little time difference whether that's 100 or 200 sites for us.
True, it's more customers down at once, but we've got the support staff
to handle the tickets and calls. Most "reasonable customers" will
understand that sometimes bad things happen with computers and
appreciate that you have (a) a backup and (b) their email is not
bouncing in the meantime (which, the way we set things, it doesn't - it
all queues).
--
Chris Gebhardt
VIRTBIZ Internet Services
Access, Web Hosting, Colocation, Dedicated
www.virtbiz.com | toll-free (866) 4 VIRTBIZ