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RAM vs Processor power?

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by Lighthammer, 2009/12/30.

  1. 2009/12/30
    Lighthammer

    Lighthammer Inactive Thread Starter

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    I have been doing some research online (Google) but need some input from some of the system admins on this site. Here is the scenerio:

    I will eventually have 10,000 users logging into a website that is powered by a server with a dual-core Xeon processor with 32 GB RAM. The server will be running PHP and SQL. These users will be doing nothing but logging into their account, filling out information on the site via form fields and submitting them into csv files that are stored on the server. There is no video or heavy graphics involved. If I suddenly scale up to 100,000 users, which would help ease the workload. More memory, more processor power or simply another server?

    Moderator, move this topic if needed. I wasn't sure where to start it. Thanks.
     
    Last edited: 2009/12/30
    Lighthammer,
    #1
  2. 2009/12/31
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    You'd have to run some analysis to see how the system is performing. You didn't mention which OS this server is running, but this information should get you started: How to create a log using System Monitor in Windows

    A lot will depend on the hardware sub-systems, mainly disk & memory.
     
    Arie,
    #2


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  4. 2009/12/31
    Lighthammer

    Lighthammer Inactive Thread Starter

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    The system will most likely be running CentOS. I guess I was asking a generalized question in regards to scaling up when the user base count goes from 10,000 to 100,000 in near time. Multiple users would be logged in at one time working with text files.

    Maybe I can ask the question in this way.

    If I had a server that was dual quad-core 2.6GHZ with 32GB of memory with multiple 10K SCSI running either CentOS or Windows Server 2003/2008 with PHP/SQL being the main programming language/DB for the website and bandwith not being an issue, how many users could possibly go to the website, log in, and work with text files simultaneously before I would need to get a second server or migrate to a datacenter help load balancing?
     
    Lighthammer,
    #3
  5. 2010/01/02
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    No idea. You'd have to analyze. Different hardware will perform differently. If I would guess I'd say there shouldn't be a problem, but I only know running Apache / MySQL / PHP on a Dual Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5335 @ 2.00GHz with 6GB RAM and two 15K5 SAS drives.

    Maximum around 120 users connected at the same time.
     
    Arie,
    #4
  6. 2010/01/02
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    I believe your bottleneck will be in the disk writes if all of these users are writing csv files.

    Which brings me to my questions, "If using sql why the need for csv files, sql can do all that csv can do and more, and more efficiently? Why not just store the form input in the sql database instead of text files?

    If some of the data is reusable, the html forms and php database queries can work faster and better than text files. If need csv file to be downloaded to work with offline in a spreadsheet application: it's real easy to export a row or entire table in csv format using php & sql.
     
    TonyT,
    #5
  7. 2010/01/02
    pcbugfixer

    pcbugfixer Inactive

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    G'Day "Lighthammer "

    Please clear up these points for me.

    1. Are you running this Server Machine from your location or are you running your website from a Web Hosting Company Server ??

    2. If you are running from a Web Hosting Company Server, what is the plan you are on, and what is the "Transfer" "Hits" i.e. Bandwidth allowance on the plan ?

    3. What platform is the Server running on ? - Linux, Windows or what and what version.

    4. You could also let me know via PM who the Hosting Company is so I can check my database on their performance History.

    pcbugfixer ;)
     
    Last edited: 2010/01/02
    pcbugfixer,
    #6

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