Reccomended Requirements for Apache Server

[bkibu]

I am a network administrator mostly running Novell 5 servers. Some of the older servers aren't compatible with version 5 and I have been asked to set one up with RH running Apache. I can't get a new machine but am free to add to the existing as necessary to make them a robust web server. The inital use will be limited, but might grow once word gets out. Any tips, suggestions or resources that I should look at?

Thanks

 

[rycamor]

What are the specs on your machine?

I recommend FreeBSD (

http://www.freebsd.org)

Unix over RedHat, if you want a truly robust webserver. I have found FreeBSD to run quite well on older x86 hardware. FreeBSD comes with Apache, etc... same as RedHat.

For one project using FreeBSD/Apache, I used a Pentium 90 with 16MB RAM as my testing/development server, and I was able to install PHP and MySQL, and run a complete e-commerce solution on that system with no problem.

 

[Hokey]

I would have to agree with rycamor, FreeBSD is a better solution for servers than RH. Linux has the advantage if you are in need of drivers for cutting edge hardware, but FreeBSD has been more stable and faster for my systems.

I currently have several FreeBSD/Apache/PHP/MySQL boxes starting with a P75/32MB and ending with PII350/128MB. I have noticed that the P75 boxes do get sluggish when I am running complex SQL searches on some of our bigger databases, but they seem just as fast as the P350 while accessing static pages or pages with a small CGI/PHP/SQL scripts. The two things that seemed to have made the biggest difference on our systems is RAM and the HD seek times. Getting the RAM above 64MB seems to be beneficial and faster SCSI HDD can make a significant improvement durring those peak hours.