I’ve been pondering the replacement of my web server, the machine that runs this website, for about a year now. I finally took the leap today and placed the parts order with my favorite computer component dealer, NCIX. A new chassis, motherboard, processor (Intel!), memory, and flat panel display are now waiting to be added to my credit card.

My main objectives with this upgrade:

• physically “shrink” the size of the server. The machine I have is a big, noisy, dual processor box. I want to put the machine itself in our attic crawlspace or on a very small stand, and that means smaller
• upgrade the OS and related components. I’ve found it challenging to complete in-place upgrades on the server. I’ve done it several times, but this go-around I want to do a clean wipe of the machine. Without having a new computer to perform the build on, this would have meant a lengthy (couple day) outage
• minor performance and capacity upgrade. The existing machine is a dual processor 1.6 GHz system with 1 GB of RAM. The new machine will be a dual core 2.6 GHz machine with 4 GB of RAM. I expect the increased memory and, to a lesser extent, faster processor will have some positive effect on performance of some of the odds and ends running on the machine (E.G.: BF2, TeamSpeak- things you folks looking at the web don’t interact with normally)

I don’t expect to get around to actually building the new server for a while, and when I do it will be done without touching this site until the actual switch over. I’ll post the exact details of the new configuration when I deploy it.

The funny thing is, I feel more sentimental about the old server (which I built originally in April, 2003) than about my main gaming PC. Almost five years ago: it has served me well during that time, with very few complaints other than some early heat problems. I hope the new system will serve as well…