Geograph’s New Hardware – from a Skateboard to an Airbus A380

Finally got all the quotes in for Geograph’s brand spanking new hardware platform and we’re ready to order. It’s all rather exciting.

What Geograph currently runs on…

700MHz Celeron server with 512MB RAM and 70GB hard disc space

…and what it will be running on

3 x application servers with dual 3Ghz Xeon CPUs and 4GB RAM
2TB storage server with dual 3Ghz Xeon CPUs and 4GB RAM
single CPU load balancer / cache server
full remote IP power switching and KVM for all hosts

It’s hard to compare the two setups, but I’d say the new configuration is around 40-50 times more powerful. It’s like trading up from a skateboard to an Airbus A380.

While this will provide a much needed boost in site performance for our present site contributors, some of that horsepower is needed to ensure we can cope with the increased traffic from educational use.

I’ll write more about the process of configuring the hardware over the next weeks, but for now, that’s enough to whet your appetites!