>> Q: with 2 million links (DMOZ dump) the site is now very, very slow....what server specs should I be looking for as a minimum, to maintain or improve performance
The biggest you can afford.
I would suggest a Unix machine, with at least 2GB RAM, and if you are trying to serve a significant amount of hits, you might want to set it to run under mod_perl. You can check out http://GossamerHost.com for *realistic* pricing of packages, and rock-solid support and performance (a satisfied customer :) Anyone promising more for less, is *probably* not going to deliver 24/7/365. Remember, it's not what you are *allowed* to use under your plan, it's what's actually AVAILABLE for you to use :)
The CPU speed is less important (now adays) than the amount of RAM and the quality of your harddrives. If you are still having performance issues, in DISK I/O, you can use a performance RAID system, where data is stripped across different disks, so the read speed is higher than with doing seeks on a single drive. Of course, this is not cheap.
Bigger is *NOT* always better. Targeted sites seem to do better over all, and performance is higher. ie: people searching for hobby or fun things, are not likely to search business or money sites at the same time. A person looking up RC cars is not going to be really interested in gardening, etc. Getting rid of any/all adult links improves performance. I removed about 80,000 links from Girlfriends.com a couple of years back, and left about 35,000 links of "content" which improved performance significantly. You'll find most adult links are worthless, and they bog down a system. You'll do better finding a referral site, and getting a penny or less per referral for each adult surfer. (That is of course, unless you are running an adult site <G>)
PUGDOG� Enterprises, Inc.
The best way to contact me is to NOT use Email.
Please leave a PM here.
The biggest you can afford.
I would suggest a Unix machine, with at least 2GB RAM, and if you are trying to serve a significant amount of hits, you might want to set it to run under mod_perl. You can check out http://GossamerHost.com for *realistic* pricing of packages, and rock-solid support and performance (a satisfied customer :) Anyone promising more for less, is *probably* not going to deliver 24/7/365. Remember, it's not what you are *allowed* to use under your plan, it's what's actually AVAILABLE for you to use :)
The CPU speed is less important (now adays) than the amount of RAM and the quality of your harddrives. If you are still having performance issues, in DISK I/O, you can use a performance RAID system, where data is stripped across different disks, so the read speed is higher than with doing seeks on a single drive. Of course, this is not cheap.
Bigger is *NOT* always better. Targeted sites seem to do better over all, and performance is higher. ie: people searching for hobby or fun things, are not likely to search business or money sites at the same time. A person looking up RC cars is not going to be really interested in gardening, etc. Getting rid of any/all adult links improves performance. I removed about 80,000 links from Girlfriends.com a couple of years back, and left about 35,000 links of "content" which improved performance significantly. You'll find most adult links are worthless, and they bog down a system. You'll do better finding a referral site, and getting a penny or less per referral for each adult surfer. (That is of course, unless you are running an adult site <G>)
PUGDOG� Enterprises, Inc.
The best way to contact me is to NOT use Email.
Please leave a PM here.
