sendmail queue

[Tony Kanago]

The problem is that in a virtual enviroment like this, you can't be completely sure what the company is running. Commonly, VPS run a dedicated T1 to a dedicated NIC for each virtual host. The problem is that you can just as easily force 8 users to share a slightly larger line, and then use a software limit through virtuozzo to control throughput. The big problem here is that it looks as though GoDaddy seems to be strictly limiting sendmail control. Note, this isn't limiting bandwidth through any port, but simply limiting the messages per cycle.

But yea, all the same, the same amount of information just isn't going as fast as it could in a more ideal setup. Virtuozzo is a really interesting platform to work with. It's cost effective for simply high-bandwidth sites, but shared hardware usage, fast pipes, and discrepencies such as these that make it such a cheap platform.

[Brian Busch]

in looking thru your newletters I recv, I note sizes from ~35K to ~50K (or so). 16,000 emails of 50K (roughly) is only ~760MB of raw data (minus smtp latency/dns lookups if not cached, etc.). You're right, it shouldn't take 3 days! Bummer!

[Tony Kanago]

Yep, Len just got final word from GoDaddy-

The limit on VPS is30-35 per minute, if exceeded, 10 per minute for 6 hours, if still exceed then the queue is stopped.

Everything will be covered with a fully dedicated server in the future. Also, Len, I was going to ask but you left too quick from AIM- You said the queue was stopping outgoing user registration validation emails. If you need an external relay just for that, I can get you setup with something for the moment.

[Brian Busch]

i can't believe they didn't tell Len this when he signed up! There is no way he can run his business with this limitation. This must be why they hid the sendmail.cf. No peeky, No tweaky.

I suspected the "virtual dedicated" server, but couldn't back it up with any techno-proof . I think virtual dedicated servers are kind of gimmicky. You can get a real dedicated server for about $100 a month at www.ev1servers.net and it's worth it! (With the traffic and space requirements, CMN's dedicated server is $500/month).

[Brian Busch]

>CMN is $500/month

Woh! Is $6K/year for outsourcing the only option? I know others on CMN have more experience in hosting options, but it seems you could self-host for lots less (over a few years). Not trying to mess things up - I'm sure you did due diligence on your search for the most cost-effective solution.

Is this the same provider that you moved to after I researched your performance issues on the single CPU redhat host?

No wonder you charge now!

Originally Posted by Brian Busch

>CMN is $500/month

Woh! Is $6K/year for outsourcing the only option? I know others on CMN have more experience in hosting options, but it seems you could self-host for lots less (over a few years). Not trying to mess things up - I'm sure you did due diligence on your search for the most cost-effective solution.

Is this the same provider that you moved to after I researched your performance issues on the single CPU redhat host?

No wonder you charge now!

Yes, same provider. We just grew into it. We started off at $100 -- then $250 -- then $300 -- then $500. The specs on it are:

Dual Xeon 3.2 GHz
4 GB RAM
(4) 250GB SATA RAID 0+1 - 500GB Usable Hard Drives
3000GB Monthy Transfer
Red Hat Enterprise w/Ensim

I'm open to other options. I'm not sure what self-hosting would entail....

[Brian Busch]

Dual Xeon 3.2 GHz
4 GB RAM
(4) 250GB SATA RAID 0+1 - 500GB Usable Hard Drives
3000GB Monthy Transfer
Red Hat Enterprise w/Ensim

well. 1TB SATA isn't cheap, but you can do it for under 1K if you do it yourself.
The Dual Xeon 3.2/4GB will be about $3.5K
RH + Ensim ~ $400.

3000GB (usually 1500 in/out) - have to figure out what that really means in bandwidth. T1 might be $300/month for you, which is $3.6K.

It all adds up, and we haven't added the maintenance. You might ask folks on CMN to sign up for a year of support in areas of their expertise, but that gets dicey based on their availability. Seems like it just might be smarter to leave it hosted externally.

If you cut down on space, you could save money, according to some of the quotes I saw - do we really need .5 TB?! Lots of space. I know you like offering unlimited space for us, but it looks like if we dropped the space down to something more reasonable you could save HUNDREDS of dollars a month, still with the same software, os, dual cpu, ram and usage.

Maybe - the links in the MXC go to Tony's personal harddrive at his house?! He can stack a bunch of TRS-80's from his father's attic up and get some SMC going?!

I'm in over my head on hosting - if you need help finding why it doesn't work, let me know, but you and others have MUCH more experience on this front. Just freaked me out to see $6K/yr. If we can get it down, we could offer cheaper membership or something.

Sorry if I opened up a box of vipers.

There really wasn't an in-between option that would work. We are a bit overkill, but have plenty of room to grow. I think we'll stick with what we have for now -- along with Kerwin's TRS-80s and my VIC-20s

[Brian Busch]

VIC-20 - I remember those - they booted from Cassette - now thats an old computer! I wonder what the seek time on those were...

[[Admin] osborn4]

I don't think they booted from Cassette. They just used them as storage devices to load programs and store data.

I had an Atari 800XL from about the same era.

[Tony Kanago]

It's kind of scary to realize that my pencil has more ram than my first Packard Bell!

Now, where's my screwdriver and my soldering iron! Time to overclock my calculator!

As far as hosting ourselves-
Datacenters tend to get much better rates overall from getting just so much bandwidth in one set of lines, as opposed to a provider trying to get smaller lines to individual houses for just a few sites worth of bandwidth. I know Sheldon's run his house as a mini-datacenter, so he'd know better on that. Overall, the datacenters get such a low rate relative to a houseline, there is just no way to compete. I would think about colocation when it comes to 500$ a month, but this case really brings me to think, 'If it ain\'t broke, don\'t fix it!'

Oh and Tim, have you gotten my last email and a few PMs? (I'm honestly not sure how many PMs I sent, but my sent box only had a few of the ones I sent, so I sent an extra or two...which you'd know if you got them !)