First, thanks to everyone who sent over advice. It's really helped me narrow down the multitudes of choices and focus on the server requirements.
Second, before giving up the final config, let me answer a couple of questions that popped up: 1) Why get a web server at all? While I admit a simple hosting package would be sufficient for now, we're gearing up towards bringing our individual chapter, etc. websites into our own (if they want), and progressively adding in more features/stuff that, while it still won't make the site incredibly high-traffic, will end up using a lot of space (abstracts, articles, tables of contents, sub-sites, and so on), so I felt it would be worth the experience of going through setting up our own server if only to ensure we'd always have enough room to expand, and to be able to ensure we can add the features we want to (that you may not be able to do in a shared hosting environment). And to be totally honest, I have this masochismic streak in me, and I just really wanted to opportunity to learn how to do it! And where better to learn than in a smaller, more relaxed environment like this than in some crazed server farm. I'm sure many of you can understand this type of insanity..... ;) 2) What databases? Right now, I'm just running a couple of small Access DBs, as our web system isn't connected to our backend system (long, involved, and potentially very costly story there, I tell you). In the future, I may have need of more robust DBs for the larger projects I envision (like ToC's for 60+ years of our publications, for example), and I'll jump that stream when I get to it (though MySQL has a good reputation on these lists, so I may give that a shot and see how it is). In any event, if/when I need bigger, badder databases, I'll set up a seperate DB server for that. 3) Firewall? Oh, yes, be assured I've got a firewall sitting over in the other room. That's the first thing I made sure of when I took the job. The web server will be plugged into the DMZ port so it's not inside the network. 4) IIS or Apache? Hey, I'm tech-neutral! But to be honest, I'm far more familiar with the the Windows family, so, for now at least, I'm opting for IIS. Trust me, I'm going to turn off everything it lets me turn off and still spit out a finalized web page! I know IIS isn't perfect, but with a little work I know it can be realistically managed. Now for the results. I've opted for a PowerEdge 600SC, as the price is *well* within budget, and will allow for a bit of growth and expansion - I figured since I had the money, I may as well get the server hardware now instead of later. Inside is: 1 GB RAM 2x 40GB HDD in RAID 1 P4 2.4GHz processor (1) PowerVault 100T, TR40 tape backup I figure that this will be fine for what I'll end up doing in the next few years, with possibly the upgrade to bigger HDDs, or perhaps dropping in more RAM. Thanks again for everyone's advice. Like I said, it really helped cut through the "what the heck do I need?" factors with the levels of choice involved. Happy Holidays all! Cheers, James James Mathieson Information Systems Manager The Wildlife Society 5410 Grosvenor Lane Bethesda, MD 20814-2197 PH: 301-897-9770 Fax: 301-530-2471 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.wildlife.org/ ______________________________________________________________________ Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with 'unsubscribe' in the body or visit the list page at www.houseoffusion.com
