What managed dedicated server will I need for 500-1000 users at once?

[Ryan Thomas]

Hey guys,

I am hoping that in the future my website eventually gets 500-1000 users at any given time.

I was browsing Hostgator's dedicated servers here:

http://www.hostgator.com/dedicated

Do you think their Pro Dedicated Server would be able to handle such a load?

Here's the specs of it:

Intel Xeon Quad Core, 3.3GHz (8 threads)

1 Gbps Uplink

16 GB High Performance RAM

1,000 GB RAID-1 Drives

25 TB Bandwidth

5 Dedicated IPs

So, do you guys think that those specs are good enough?

Also, I am looking for a Managed server since I have NO server experience. In terms of optimization, what will that require? I have only shared hosting experience. Does "optimization" simply mean HTML, CSS, Javascript and image optimization? Or does it mean going deeper, like MySQL optimization (again I have no experience with MySQL optimization.)

So, does Invision Power optimize itself out of the box or do I have to do tons of work to get performance out of it?

Thanks for your help with this!

[-RAW-]

I was you i run away from hostgator, also you can get same server or more for less on other places.

[RevengeFNF]

If you want 1000 users at the same time, i think its better for you to go with a SSD Hard Drive.

Check this ones: http://www.soyoustart.com/us/essential-servers/

[Dmacleo]

running dual xeon 5150 with 16gb ram using 2 500gb sata in raid1 and have handled that much load no issues.

few weeks ago had 700 streaming a video hosted on server and another 1200 in forums with no issues.

[Grumpy]

I can outright tell you no. That spec on HG will not support it.

You will run into disk bottleneck long before you run into anything else because you have only 1 disk. Also, you don't even know what cpu you are getting... I know from another user who uses HG that the standard & elite is X3440 which is rather outdated now and most dedi hosts don't even sell those anymore except at bargain bin prices. The pro has 3.3ghz... if you're lucky that's a e3-1240 or e3-1230v2 which would suffice, but still, sticking everything on 1 disk is dumb--you'll never get to use all that cpu.

It will probably be manageable with 7.2k drives, but for best performance I'd recommend SSDs to hold your mysql and OS. If your budget is 374/mo, you can make it fit. This is not required, but I'd recommend getting:

E3 or E5 CPU. Generally any of them should do it. E3-1230 is cheapest and oldest. the "v2" "v3" at the end are newer models by 1 year each compared to predecessor.

16GB ram

2x ~120GB SSD in raid1 (soft vs hard doesn't matter as much. Also, SSD sizes differ per manufacturer. Any smallest sized should be good enough.)

2x 1TB HDD in raid1 (soft vs hard doesn't matter as much)

For forum rule reasons. I can't tell you where to get that for less than 374. But there are plenty... I'll just point you to webhostingtalk.com

------------------

No generic management will include IPB specific optimizations. They simply don't know IPB and there's no reason for them to know. You'll have to hire some of the experienced people here to do it for you for IPB specific optimization (don't mail me, I'm too busy). It will generally involve one time job over a period of time.

The host's included optimization will include simple apache, mysql tweaking. But I never found generic services to do a good job, even expensive ones (generally speaking, not ipb specific). You have to get someone with specific experience for that software to do it to get it done well. Generic management is enough to get you running, but it'll be like getting only a third of the power and speed you could be getting.

But you will still want the 24/7 management for all other issues. Including security, setup, maintenance, etc.

Also, when selecting management, you should also be sure to ask if they support 3rd party softwares and/or common softwares besides LAMP. Like nginx, mariadb, php-fpm, & memcache. These are other commonly used services for high performance IPB and they are common services as well, just not as much as apache+mysql. Most qualified management will say yes to the latter. You'll need to take these to consideration as well in selecting who manages your server.

-----------------------

You should also know that it's possible to get management from a place separate from your host. But generally one tied with the host has fuller control for obvious reasons.