The idea of a new server has been floating around my head for a couple of years now, what with the software configuration on this one having gotten brittle, and replacement SATA150 hard drives having gotten scarce.
The need for a software update was driven home this morning when I found a Perl script (shellbot, as it turns out) eating the CPU. Seems it had arrived via Exim (in the past, others have been infected via Apache) and was running as user "mailrun" and claiming to be "/usr/sbin/httpd (perl5.8.9)".
Updating Exim, or anything else, is a scary prospect, as I have a lot of software installed via the FreeBSD ports system, generally with custom settings, and some that's hand-installed, and any major update carries the prospect of a day in dependency hell trying to fix things that have gotten broken.
The current server has been running more or less continuously since June 2005, which is rather a long time for cheap hardware... and back in those days, a 160G hard drive was pretty darn big. It does seem like time for one with a couple of terabytes of storage (or maybe a mirrored terabyte).
So, mayhap it's time to put together new hardware, with SATA300 drives and a fresh software install. Possibly even move to the latest Debian, for easier software maintenance (which now means the opportunity to choose between a Linux kernel and a FreeBSD kernel). The main annoyance would be translating my arcane firewall rules to whatever the new system uses. (Well, that and coming up with a trio of Ethernet interfaces with consistent, distinct names.)
Oh, and an Intel processor this time. AMD gives way better performance per CPU dollar, but Intel is better at performance per Watt, and for a machine that's left running continuously for years on end, and isn't meant to be a room heater, saving power is a bit of an issue... and even an Atom processor would have plenty of horsepower for my server needs.
Update: Turns out AMD has a line of "energy efficient" Athlon II parts... 3 cores, 45W, about $100? Interesting! I'll probably, however, go with the nearly-complete set of spare parts I have lying around for a Core 2 Duo system (needing only a full-size case with good ventilation and a high-rel hard drive). Less energy efficient in the long run, but less cash out of pocket right away.
A further factor driving new-server interest: it's past time for a bug-tracking system. Must play nice with Subversion. Open source strongly preferred. Installing either Trac or MantisBT on the old server via the ports system turns out to be somewhere between impossible and impossible, so that leaves manual installation, which adds to the brittleness....
A server that serves you loyally for 6 years is already a great investment. I think it's time to give the old lady a much needed rest. There are a lot of affordable servers out there. There are even used ones that can do the job better.
Posted by: Vincent Mesecher | Wednesday, 16 November 2011 at 05:12