Webserver for development

[Thomas_baas]

Hey!

 

We are a medium size company with a webshop of around 250.000 monthly visitors. We are currently using Wordpress (yes, I know...) so you can imagine the database size (around 4gb and 15 million rows). We want to use the live database in our development because it mostly prevents unforeseen issues. The server we are currently using is a i5 4690 and 12gb of RAM and it's reaching its limits and sometimes webpages load really slow. For comparison: our live server is a 64 thread, 128gb RAM machine. 

 

We need a new development server for using a samba share to develop on, and around 2 to 3 developers that are constantly doing request to the server. 

[Sir Asvald]

Hello! 

 

Could you tell your budget  

[Thomas_baas]

If you keep it below 2k then everything is fine

[Acedia]

Wouldn't it be wiser to simply rent a Wordpress instance somewhere like AWS, Google, Azure, DigitalOcean etc? That way it's scalable, you can turn it off and safe money when you don't need it. You don't have to buy hardware etc. You can create different development so you can test different solutions at the same time.

 

 

[Thomas_baas]

Maybe it is. But we want our server to be local

[Jarsky]

By live database, i guess you mean that you want to copy the live database to your dev instance? 

The biggest factor to performance for databases is generally lots of ram and ssd's for swapping. Have you considered a Dell R720? Something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R720-2U-Server-2x-E5-2665-8-Core-2-4GHz-128GB-2x-500GB-HDD-H710/163376280160

32 Threads & 128GB ram. Sell off the hdd's and get some Samsung SSD's for the performance

[mariushm]

You don't need anything fancy.

 

You'll want loads of ram and a good MLC SSD (or two in RAID 1, for redundancy)

The processor is probably gonna matter less... I would be comfortable recommending a Ryzen 5 2600 because it's reasonably cheap and has plenty of processing power and cores for a development server. Also AM4 processors can work with ECC memory and a lot of AM4 motherboards support ECC memory - though for a dev server ECC memory won't really matter that much

Not sure what country you're in but assuming EU / Germany based on name and you saying euro in some previous posts..  I'll use UK stores in PC Part Picker simply because it's easier for me...

 

You say your current database is 4 GB .... that can basically be cached in RAM for all intents and purposes.

 

Here's a conservative configuration : 

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/mariushm/saved/#view=xqcYHx

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/msQjTB

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor  (£134.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B450 AORUS PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£107.75 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (£148.91 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital - Black NVMe 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (£59.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Pro 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£124.99 @ Box Limited)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Pro 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£124.99 @ Box Limited)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GT 1030 2 GB Low Profile Video Card  (£66.97 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£47.29 @ More Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£72.77 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £888.63
 

The m.2 drive is for the operating system and software.

The 2 Samsung 860 Pro are for database

- it's two so you can run in RAID 1 (redundancy, if one fails you just replace it and things keep going)

- it's 512 GB because you get higher endurance (more TB) compared to 256 GB drives so the drives will last for a longer time

- they're 860 Pro because those are MLC based (higher endurance compared to TLC)

 

You don't necessarily need nvme and m.2 for database access, you're not gonna read from database at speeds higher than 500 MB/s, and access times will be low anyways. 

m.2 benefit would be minimal and you wouldn't be able to have redundancy (there are two m.2 connectors on board, but one is connected directly to CPU and the other through chipset, at lower speeds... no point messing with RAID 1 with such configuration)

 

If you have money to burn, you could go the threadripper router, and actually get ECC memory and room for future upgrades when it comes to RAM, and you have multiple M.2 connectors connected directly to CPU (as Threadripper has 60 pci-e lanes available)

 

Threadripper build : https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/mariushm/saved/#view=rjtgJx

 

All but memory from amazon.co.uk to make things easier - you can use non-ecc memory and buy 8 x 16 GB sticks for a total of 128 GB, and still fit your budget.

But you don't really need 128 GB of memory... even 64 GB will last you a long time.

CPU is 12 core / 24 thread Threadripper... enough for DB development... no need to spend extra 200+ euro for 16 core or whatever.

And sticking with air cooling because no need to mess with water cooling in a server.

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/FLTvr6

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 2920X 3.5 GHz 12-Core Processor  (£559.98 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U14S TR4-SP3 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler  (£68.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X399 AORUS PRO ATX TR4 Motherboard  (£269.51 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial - 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (£117.56 @ Technextday)
Memory: Crucial - 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (£117.56 @ Technextday)
Memory: Crucial - 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (£117.56 @ Technextday)
Memory: Crucial - 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (£117.56 @ Technextday)
Storage: Western Digital - Black NVMe 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (£59.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (£139.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (£139.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX - Radeon RX 550 - 512 2 GB Video Card  (£69.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  (£99.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - PRIME Ultra Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£90.94 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1968.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-02 12:06 BST+0100