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Slashdot beta server setup
News Posted by CaptTofu on Friday April 28, @01:23PM
from the the-guts-and-inerds-of-things dept.
Many of you are wondering about our new setup here. We've done quite a bit to make sure we'll have the bandwidth needed to serve out slashdot faster than ever before. There's been a lot of discussion as to what people suspect the setup to be.

The new Slashdot setup


Bandwidth:

Slashdot's new co-location site is now at Andover.Net's own (pinky finger to the mouth) $1million/year dedicated datacenter at the Exodus network facility in Waltham, Mass, which has the added advantage of being less than 30 minute drive for most of our network admins they don't to fly cross country to install machines.

The co-lo setup:

As for boxes at the new co-lo facility, we have some racks of VA FullOns and a few hefty VA 3500's, all running Linux (mostly Debian, some Red Hat's). All boxes are networked together through a Cisco 6509 with two RSM/MSVT (Router/Switch boxes) . The 6509 contains two routers and one backup switch module. if one breaks the other takes over. Now we can rearrange our internal network topology just by reconfiguring the switch. Internet connectivity to/from the outside world all flows through one arrowpoint CS-100 switch which acts as both a firewall load balancer for the front end web servers, which will be replaced byTwo Arrowpoint CS-150's (16 port) . It also so happens that the Arrowpoint shares the same office building with Andover.Net in Acton so whenever we need Arrowpoint tech support we just walk upstairs and talk to the engineers.

The actual pipe is pproximately 100Mbits out and 200mbits coming in.

The new Slashdot machines:

The new Slashdot setup is currently 4 web servers for serving web pages (VA FullOns, Pentium III 600 MHz, running Debian Linux, Apache, mod_perl) plus 2 plain Apache web servers for serving images, all load balanced via an Arrowpoint switch. Each web server is NFS mounted to an NFS file server (VA FullOn, Dual-PentiumIII 600MHz, running Debian Linux with kernel NFS and kernel locking). The slash database is on a backend database server (VA 3500, Quad Xeon 550, Mylex Extreme RAID5, running MySQL). All boxes have at least 1 GB RAM (2 GB for DB servers), LVD SCSI with 10,000 RPM SCSI drives, and two Intel EtherExpress 100Mbs interfaces.

Software running on Slashdot:

Slashdot itself is running the latest release of the Slash code from Slashcode.com, which is based on Apache+mod_perl+MySQL. The Adfu ad system has been replaced with a small Apache module written in C for better performance, and that too will be open sourced When It's Ready (tm). The MySQL and Apache configs are still being tweaked -- part of the trick is to keep the MaxClients setting in httpd.conf on each web server low enough to not overwhelm the connection limits of database, which in turn depends on the process limits of the kernel, which can all be tweaked until a state of perfect zen balance has been achieved.

As for fault tolerance, we're working on two fronts:

First we're funding development efforts with the MySQL team to add database replication and rollback capabilities to MySQL and that's coming along on schedule (and yes, these improvements will be rolled into the normal MySQL release as well) so we'll soon be able to have two redundant database servers (I know what you're saying "Why not use Oracle...", well just because... you know... the zealousy thing...) Second, we're also developing some in-house software (code named "Oddessey") that will keep each Slashdot boxed sychronized with a hot-spare box, so in case a box suddenly dies it will automatically be replaced with a hot-spare box -- kind of a RAID-for-servers solution (imagine... a Beowulf cluster of these?) and this too will be open sourced, When It's Ready (tm).

As for specific hardware specs, there are 3 types of machines:

Type I (web server)
-------------------
VA Full On 2x2
Debain Linux frozen
PIII/600 Mhz 512K cache
1 GB RAM
9.1GB LVD SCSI w/ hot swap backplane
Intel EtherExpress Pro (built-in on moboard)
Intel EtherExpress 100 adapter

Type II (kernel NFS w/ kernel locking)
--------------
VA Full On 2x2
Debian Linux frozen
Dual PIII/600 Mhz
2 GB RAM
(2) 9.1GB LVD SCSI w/ hot swap backplane
Intel EtherExpress Pro (built-in on moboard)
Intel EtherExpress 100 adapter

Type III (DB)
-------------
VA Research 3500
Red Hat Linux 6.2 (final release + tweaks)
Quad Xeon 550 Mhz, 1MB cache
2 GB RAM
6 LVD disks, 10000 RPM (1 system disk, 5 disks for RAID5)
Mylex Extreme RAID controller 16 MB cache
Intel EtherExpress Pro (built-in on moboard)
Intel EtherExpress 100 adapter

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  • Also by CaptTofu
  • 'Slashdot beta server setup' | Login/Create an Account | 366 comments | Search Discussion
    Threshold:
    The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. Slashdot is not responsible for what they say.
    ( Beta is only a state of mind )
    Slashdot bug? (OT) (Score:1, Offtopic)
    by Marvin_OScribbley (someone@i-love-spam.hushmail.com) on Friday April 28, @02:28PM EST (#5)
    (User Info) http://www.slashdot.org/secretz.pl?password=jinX
    Ok, I know this is slightly offtopic (cool server specs, Yay! now i've retained a semblance of ontopicness ;) but when I try to post too soon I noticed a couple of things.

    First, by my clock I waited 75 seconds between posts, but Slashdot says it was 68. (ouchie)

    Second, ok, now problem, so I wait 2 seconds and try to submit (68+2 = 70, right). Oh, now it says its only been 5 seconds. Trying to keep us trigger happy submitters from trying to submit too often huh?
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:Slashdot bug? (OT) (Score:1)
    by BSD-Pat on Friday April 28, @02:37PM EST (#9)
    (User Info) http://www.bsdunix.net
    yep, I think thats the idea, but you have to ask Tofu. I only know about the servers/OS/network

    ok....

    for the missing specs:

    Two Arrowpoint CS-150's (16 port) will be replacing the one arrowpoint
    CS-100 we have in there now.

    the Cisco switch is a 6509 with two RSM/MSVT (Router/Switch boxes)

    so the 6509 contains two routers and one backup switch module. if one
    breaks the other takes over.

    the pipe is approximately 100Mbits out and 200mbits coming in.

    its pretty sweet.

    oh yeah, its Oddysey

    -Pat
    FreeBSD The Power to Serve
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • NEWSFLASH: Marvin dominates Slashdot postings (Score:1, Offtopic)
    by Marvin_OScribbley (someone@i-love-spam.hushmail.com) on Friday April 28, @02:30PM EST (#6)
    (User Info) http://www.slashdot.org/secretz.pl?password=jinX
    It's a new record, I have not only the first post, but the first SIX posts. Let's see how many I can post here before somebody else discovers BetaDot is dead. ;-)

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:NEWSFLASH: Marvin dominates Slashdot postings (Score:1)
    by the_other_one (other_one69@MAPSONhotmail.com) on Friday April 28, @02:31PM EST (#7)
    (User Info)
    Time to get a post in edgewise.


    With Windows Millenium MS was able to get the boot time down to 25 seconds.
    That's almost as short as it's uptime.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:Marvin, dude, you rule (Score:1)
    by MadDreamer (maddreamer@spamwich.mmcable.com) on Friday April 28, @03:01PM EST (#11)
    (User Info)
    Well really, like it matters, it's still the beta server and unless /. screws up this should affect anyones Karma.... we hope...


    I'll pretend like there's something witty here and you pretend like you laughed at it.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Testing moderation (Score:2, Funny)
    by medicthree on Friday April 28, @03:00PM EST (#10)
    (User Info)
    Mod this down to -69.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:Testing moderation (Score:1)
    by evil_deceiver (mcoffeyatjusticedotloyoladotedu) on Saturday April 29, @03:54PM EST (#43)
    (User Info) http://justice.loyola.edu/~mcoffey/
    As it turns out, that was a more accurate measurement of the /. moderation system than you probably intended. :P
    ++++++++++[>++++++++++<-]>+ .<++++[>++++<-]>+.<+++ +[>---<-]>-.+++.[-]++++++++++.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Sorry (Score:2, Interesting)
    by rjamestaylor (rjtonlineAToneboxDOTcom) on Friday April 28, @03:05PM EST (#12)
    (User Info) http://home.earthlink.net/~thetaylorfamily
    Sorry for the multiple re-submissions on the AAAAAAHHHHHHH! story. I didn't realize that the submit page would allow you to repost the same story again (actually I did it hundreds of times) by reloading the submit.pl page.

    May I suggest tagging the stories prior to submission with an id and not allowing the same id to actually be submitted to the story queue more than once?

    Again, sorry, but, this is the beta server....

    I lived through the IPO Rush of '99
    -- T-Shirt c.2034
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:Sorry (Score:1)
    by rjamestaylor (rjtonlineAToneboxDOTcom) on Friday April 28, @03:27PM EST (#17)
    (User Info) http://home.earthlink.net/~thetaylorfamily
    I'm too honest. I've never tried doing that here (or on other sites) before. After accidently submitting the AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! story twice (and purposefully doing it ||: again :|| )I tried it on messages posts. Well, there's great protection for this kind of thing in message posts, so I assume / can easily handle the same for story submissions?

    Any reason why it does not?

    I lived through the IPO Rush of '99
    -- T-Shirt c.2034
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • what, no proxies for mod_perl servers? (Score:3, Informative)
    by jslag on Friday April 28, @03:15PM EST (#13)
    (User Info) http://www.citilink.com/~slagj
    Have you guys read the mod_perl guide (perl.apache.org/guide)? It (and the gurus on the mod_perl list, I believe) espouses the use of a proxy server, which serves to buffer dynamic content & allow the heavyweight mod_perl processes to keep generating content, rather than generate content and then wait around for the client to close the connection. Seems like that sort of structure might allow you to save a few hundred bucks a month on the power bill...
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Only 12 comments? (Score:3, Funny)
    by D. Taylor (davidt-sd@xfiles.nildram.spam.co.uk) on Friday April 28, @03:19PM EST (#14)
    (User Info)
    Wow. An article with only twelve comments. I thought beta.slashdot.org wanted lots of high load to test everything... Well, I thought I'd just post an extremely boring pointless post for no purpose other than to consume resources.
    --
    David Taylor
    davidt-sd@xfiles
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Bastard (Score:1)
    by hodeleri (drbrain@segment7.net) on Friday April 28, @06:29PM EST (#30)
    (User Info) http://segment7.net

    Don't put javascript in your .sig, punk, or I will have to give you a smackdown.

    <grin>

    Eric is chiseled like a Greek Godess. -- Matt Monahan

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:Only 12 comments? (Score:1)
    by ganjuror (ganjuror@NOSPAM.nettrip.org) on Saturday April 29, @04:28AM EST (#41)
    (User Info) http://www.nettrip.org
    ditto.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    New Setup Question (Score:4, Funny)
    by skelly (tsu@one.net) on Friday April 28, @03:19PM EST (#15)
    (User Info) http://w3.one.net/~tsu
    Does this all come with a secret base inside a volcano?
    Romanes eunt domus? People called Romanes, they go the 'ouse? It says Romans go home. No it doesn't. What's Latin for Romans?... Now write this 100 times
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Test Test 123 (Score:1)
    by noweb4u (abuse@uu.net?subject=paul(at)timmins.net) on Friday April 28, @03:36PM EST (#19)
    (User Info) http://www.fuckmicrosoft.net/
    Does this moderation apply to my Karma? Someone moderate this way way up and see if it makes my karma rise :-)
    Umm Hot Grits and Natalie Portman Naked and Petrified or something.....

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Beg.com (Score:2, Funny)
    by Rabenwolf (rabenwolf'at'rabenwolf.de) on Friday April 28, @06:23PM EST (#29)
    (User Info) http://www.rabenwolf.de
    Three beggars are begging in New York City. The first one wrote "beg" on his broken steel cup. After one day he had received ten bucks.

    The second one wrote "beg.com" on his cup. After one day he had received hundreds of thousand of dollars. Someone even wanted to take him to NASDAQ.

    The third one wrote "eBeg" on his cup. Both IBM and HP sent vice-presidents to talk to him about a strategic alliance and offered him free hardware and professional consulting. Larry Ellison claimed on CNBC that eBeg uses 95% Oracle technology. i2 announced begTradeMatrix, a b2b industry portal to offer supply chain integration in the beggar market. Cisco just announced that virtually all eBeg traffic runs over their equipment.


    ----- "Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-PTANG! Zoom-Boing! Z'nourrwringmm!"

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Naked Grits Hot and Petrified (Score:1)
    by hodeleri (drbrain@segment7.net) on Friday April 28, @07:05PM EST (#31)
    (User Info) http://segment7.net
    I trolled youre ass, and used improper spelling and grammar to.

    Eric is chiseled like a Greek Godess. -- Matt Monahan
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • I used to live in Acton... (Score:2)
    by imac.usr (eventually_it'll_be_something_clever@logarithm.net) on Friday April 28, @09:00PM EST (#35)
    (User Info) http://www.logarithm.net/not_up_yet
    back in 1982-3, I spent 6th grade at McCarthy-Towne Elementary, and lived out in Nagog Woods, at 262 Brown Bear Road. Not the happiest time in my life, but at least something worthwhile moved in to replace me. :-]

    Obligatory beta.slashdot.org troll-post: dude, why bother with those weenie 600 MHz pee-threes; get a couple of G4 boxen w/ a gig of RAM and the 3x36GB SCSI array running Mac OS X Server, and you're set. Only $10,779 per unit from the Apple Store, eh?


    -- I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    So whens the next one? (Score:1)
    by Tony_Cross (ender_sai@yahoo.com) on Saturday April 29, @12:25AM EST (#38)
    (User Info)
    Just email me whenever you guys upgrade again, so I can get my hands on some "Genuine Slashdot Second-hand Hardware (TM)." Well, you gotta do something with all of those computers. Right? Please? Just one. All Im askin for is one. Please?

    Oh well....I guess not. Ill go huddle in the corner now.
    -------------------------------------------
    P133 and lovin it!...

    (well, not really)
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    I just had to do it.... (Score:1)
    by rjamestaylor (rjtonlineAToneboxDOTcom) on Saturday April 29, @07:50PM EST (#44)
    (User Info) http://home.earthlink.net/~thetaylorfamily
    While messages seem properly filtered and such, story submission on beta.slashdot.org is lacking that...panache....

    Here are your recent submissions to Slashdot, and their status within the system:
    • 2000-04-28 19:57:15 AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! (articles,news)
    • 2000-04-28 19:57:20 AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! (articles,news)
    [repeated 100 times]
    • 2000-04-28 20:01:44 AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! (articles,news)
    • 2000-04-30 00:34:48 AAAAAAHHHHHHHAHAAAHAHAHAHHH! (articles,news)
    • 2000-04-30 00:34:55 AAAAAAHHHHHHHAHAAAHAHAHAHHH! (articles,news)
    [repeated 100 times]
    • 2000-04-30 00:38:10 AAAAAAHHHHHHHAHAAAHAHAHAHHH! (articles,news)
    It's amazing what submit.pl allows an idiot with a refresh button do...

    I lived through the IPO Rush of '99
    -- T-Shirt c.2034
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Bug? (Score:1)
    by Quintus (MIME:D_Illuminatio_TW@hotnucleartriggerfingers.mil) on Sunday April 30, @01:00PM EST (#45)
    (User Info)
    Is it just me, or is the fortune generally stuck on A hammer sometimes misses its mark - a bouquet never. ?

    _____________
    He who fights and runs away,

    Lives to, uh,

    Run another day?

    elide nucleartrigger etc., add mail.com

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    BOO! (Score:1)
    by grimace98 (grimace@cyberdude.tAkEtHiSoUtPlEaSe.com) on Monday May 01, @08:23PM EST (#50)
    (User Info) http://www.grimace.org
    beta.slashdot.org isn't stuff that matters! Kill Jon Katz! Burn his house down! Screw Microsoft!
    1|(\)U>< 15 1337!!!!

    See, now that's real flamebait.
    ______________________________________
    visit me please
    http://www.grimace.org

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Low Bandwidth (Score:2)
    by Sloppy (sloppy@spam^H^H^H^Hrt66.com) on Tuesday May 09, @05:45PM EST (#364)
    (User Info)

    The actual pipe is pproximately 100Mbits out and 200mbits coming in.

    So, that's 100 megabits (a hundred million) out, and 200 millibits (two hundred thousanths) in? 200 millibits... that's a fifth of a bit. Presumably these are per-second figures. So it takes the new Slashdot five seconds to receive a bit. Hmm. I suggest upgrading.


    ---
    Have a Sloppy night!
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Slashdot vs. My 'puter (Score:1)
    by AnarchoFreak_00 (spoonman at mmm... spam abforestry dot co dot nz) on Tuesday May 09, @08:45PM EST (#366)
    (User Info) http://www.abforestry.co.nz/rray/index.html
    Slashdot:
    Type III (DB)
    -------------
    VA Research 3500
    Red Hat Linux 6.2 (final release + tweaks)
    Quad Xeon 550 Mhz, 1MB cache
    2 GB RAM
    6 LVD disks, 10000 RPM (1 system disk, 5 disks for RAID5)
    Mylex Extreme RAID controller 16 MB cache
    Intel EtherExpress Pro (built-in on moboard)
    Intel EtherExpress 100 adapter

    Me:
    Windows 98 (second edition + bugs)
    Single Pentium II 233Mhz, 512k cache
    128MBs RAM
    2 IDE disks, 5200rpm (one 3gig for system, one 8gig for MP3Z) both noisy.
    56k winmodem (didn't say so on the packet, and i'm to lazy to get a refund).

    Ok, ok.. so urs is better... but does urs have a cute, little turtle beanie baby type thing sitting on it's monitor?... I think not.

    - - -
    *

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Silly (Score:3, Funny)
    by Marvin_OScribbley (someone@i-love-spam.hushmail.com) on Friday April 28, @02:23PM EST (#3)
    (User Info) http://www.slashdot.org/secretz.pl?password=jinX
    Trying to fool moderators into moderating up your own post? What do you think this is, beta.slashdot.org?
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:Silly (Score:1, Offtopic)
    by Marvin_OScribbley (someone@i-love-spam.hushmail.com) on Friday April 28, @02:25PM EST (#4)
    (User Info) http://www.slashdot.org/secretz.pl?password=jinX
    Oh, did I forget to submit that as an anonymous coward? Oops, my bad. And with a +1 bonus. My karma is going to hell for this!
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:SlashBurn: This site isn't what it used to be. (Score:3, Informative)
    by legoboy (j-browne@usa.net) on Friday April 28, @05:13PM EST (#23)
    (User Info) http://cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hnic/tradition/audio/dancing.wav

    You suck.

    No, you suck.

    ------
    If a tree falls on an anonymous coward yelling 'first post' in the forest, does anybody hear?

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:SlashBurn: This site isn't what it used to be. (Score:2)
    by sparks (andrewc@ethink.co.uk) on Saturday April 29, @02:58AM EST (#39)
    (User Info) http://www.ethink.co.uk/
    It takes a special kind of person to respond to automated flamebait :)

    Andrew
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:SlashBurn: This site isn't what it used to be. (Score:2)
    by legoboy (j-browne@usa.net) on Friday May 05, @08:01PM EST (#342)
    (User Info) http://cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hnic/tradition/audio/dancing.wav
    I know. <g>

    ------
    If a tree falls on an anonymous coward yelling 'first post' in the forest, does anybody hear?
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    Re:test (Score:1)
    by Malto (NbOfSoPuAtMs@hotmail.com) on Friday April 28, @05:28PM EST (#24)
    (User Info)
    would you like a cow on a dome roof with that test?
    The previous opinions are only those of a beta tester hopped up on beta testing.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • 329 replies beneath your current threshold.
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