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Best MySQL Server Under $10K?


Posted by Artem Russakovskii on June 11th, 2008 in Databases

Updated: January 4th, 2009

Server picture I want to get opinions from outside of my daily circle of people on the best server hardware to use for MySQL. I remember from the conference somebody (Pipes?) mentioning a particular Dell server with multiple disk RAID10 that could supposedly be had for about $6k but I completely misplaced the model number (Frank, did you get my email?).

I know that a multi-disk RAID array with a bunch of fast disks (15k RPM?) is probably the most important method of improving performance, followed by the amount of RAM, so I'm trying to find the best combination/balance of the two. However, server prices on the Internet range so much that I don't even know where to begin to tell a good deal from a bad one. I don't think SSDs can play a role here, because we need at least 200GB of usable space per machine. For comparison, we currently use the following spec: Dual quadcore Intel, 16GB RAM, 200GB RAID1 + 1TB RAID1 using SATA drives (eww?) in a 2U rack (a bit too chunky, isn't it?) made by Zantaz. It performs quite nicely but I think it chokes on the amount of writes way too early.

So, what does everyone think the best configuration is under $10,000? Bonus points if you can provide a link to the vendor site or at least a model number!

Edit: so, here's the final configuration and quote I got from Silicon Mechanics, which I'm quite happy about. It is way under the $10k budget, so mission accomplished:

  • RakX 2U chassis
  • 2x Intel Xeon E5420 Quad-core 2.5Ghz, 12MB cache CPUs
  • 32GB (16x 2GB) 667Mhz Fully Buffered RAM
  • 2x integrated gbit NICs
  • IPMI 2.0 remote management card with KVM over LAN
  • 3Ware 9690SA-4I RAID controller with 512MB cache and battery backup
  • 12x 74GB Seagate Cheetah 15K.5 15KRPM SAS drives
  • redundant 700W power supply
  • sliding rail kit
  • 5 year advance component exchange warranty
  • OS RAID: 73GB HW RAID1
  • DATA RAID: 365GB HW RAID10

Total price: $6176 + tax, free shipping.

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Artem Russakovskii is a San Francisco programmer and blogger. Follow Artem on Twitter (@ArtemR) or subscribe to the RSS feed.

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